STTANLE Y  WASHBURN 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

APRIL  TO  AUGUST,   1915 


HIS  IMPERIAL  MAJESTY 
THE  TSAR  OF  ALL  THE  RUSSIAS. 


Frontispiece.] 


IPhoto,  Record  Press. 


THE 
RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

APRIL   TO   AUGUST,   1915,   BEING  THE 

SECOND   VOLUME   OF   "FIELD   NOTES 

FROM   THE   RUSSIAN    FRONT" 


By 
STANLEY    WASHBURN 

(Special  Correspondent  of 
"The  Times"  with  the  Russian  Armies) 


WITH    PHOTOGRAPHS    BY    GEORGE    H.    MEWES 


CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

NEW  YORK 
LONDON:   ANDREW   MELROSE,   LTD. 


The  illustrations  in  this  hook  are  from  the  photographs  of 
Mr.  George  H.  Mewes,  who  accompanied  Mr.  Washburn  in 
all  his  tours.  They  are  reproduced  here  by  courtesy  of  the  ' '  Daily 
Mirror.'' 


U\ 


BeMcattom 

To 
ALICE. 


INTRODUCTION 

MANY  of  my  friends  have  urged  me  not  to  publish 
this,  the  second  volume  of  Field  Notes  from  the 
Russian  Front,  on  the  ground  that  the  fortunes  of 
Russia  and  the  Russian  armies  were  on  the  wane,  and  that 
the  optimism  which  I  have  always  felt  has  proved  itself 
unfounded  by  the  events  of  the  past  few  months.  It  is 
for  the  very  reason  that  conditions  in  Russia  are  momen- 
tarily unfavourable  that  I  am  glad  to  publish  this  book 
at  this  time,  as  a  vindication  of  my  faith  and  belief  in 
the  common  soldiers  and  officers  of  an  army  with  which 
I  have  been  associated  for  nearly  a  year. 

During  the  advances  and  successes  in  Galicia  and 
Poland  a  year  ago  I  found  the  Russian  troops  admirable, 
and  now  in  the  hour  of  their  reverses  and  disappointments 
they  are  superb.  I  retract  nothing  that  I  have  said 
before,  and  resting  my  faith  in  the  justice  of  the  cause, 
the  unflinching  character  of  the  people,  and  the  matchless 
courage  of  the  Russian  soldiers,  I  am  glad  in  this  moment 
of  depression  to  have  the  chance  to  vindicate  my  own 
behef  in  their  ultimate  victory  in  the  East. 

The  Russians  for  more  than  a  year  have  laboured 
under  innumerable  difficulties.  Without  munitions,  and 
handicapped  in  a  hundred  ways,  they  have  held  them- 
selves intact  before  the  relentless  drives  of  the  most 
efficient  army  in  the  world.  Though  they  have  fallen  by 
the  hundreds  of  thousands,  their  spirits  have  not  been 

—  V  — 


INTRODUCTION 

broken.  The  loss  of  Warsaw  and  numerous  other  posi- 
tions has  not  shaken  their  morale.  History  will  record 
this  campaign  as  one  in  which  character  fought  against 
efficient  machinery,  and  was  not  found  wanting.  In  the 
final  issue  I  have  never  doubted  that  character  would 
prevail.  When  the  Russians  get  munitions  and  their 
other  military  needs,  they  will  again  advance,  and  no 
one  who  knows  the  Russian  army  doubts  that  within  it 
lies  the  capacity  to  go  forward  when  the  time  is  ripe. 

Nothing  is  more  fallacious  than  to  judge  the  outcome 
of  this  campaign  by  pins  moved  backward  or  forward  on 
the  map  of  Europe.  There  are  great  fundamental  ques- 
tions that  lie  behind  the  merely  military  aspects  of  the 
campaign ;  questions  of  morals,  ethics,  equity,  and  justice. 
These  qualities,  backed  by  men  of  tenacity,  courage,  and 
the  capacity  to  sacrifice  themselves  indefinitely  in  their 
cause,  are  greater  ultimate  assets  than  battalions  and  42- 
centimetre  guns.  That  the  Russians  possess  these  assets 
is  my  belief,  and  with  the  fixed  opinion  that  my  faith  is 
well-founded,  and  that  the  reverses  of  this  summer  are 
but  temporary  and  ephemeral  phases  of  this  vast  cam- 
paign, it  is  with  equanimity  and  without  reservation  that 
I  have  authorized  my  pubHsher  to  send  these  pages  to  the 
printer. 

The  defects  of  hurriedly  written  copy  are  of  course 
apparent  in  these  notes,  but,  as  in  my  first  volume,  it  has 
seemed  wiser  to  publish  them  with  all  their  faults,  than 
to  wait  until  the  situation  has  passed  and  news  from 
Russia  has  no  moral  value. 

STANLEY  WASHBURN. 

Petrograd,  Russia, 
September  3,  1915. 


VI 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

I    The  Fall  of  Przemysl       ....        3 

II    Warsaw  in  April,  1915      ....      41 

III    An  American  Doctor  in  the  Russian  Army      53 


IV  General  Russky's  Successor     . 

V  Checking  up  the  Situation  in  Poland 

VI  A  Visit  to  the  Positions  . 

VII  A  Summer  Day  on  the  Rawka  Line 

VIII    The  Change  of  Front  in  Poland  and  the 
Battle  of  Opatov 

IX    With  the  Army  in  Southern  Poland 

X    An  Afternoon  at  the  "  Positions  "  . 

XI    How    THE   Russians    Met   the    First    Gas 
Attack  

XII  Some  Details  Regarding  the  Gas  Horror 

XIII  The  Bzura  Front  in  June 

XIV  The  Galician  Front 

XV  The  German  Drive  in  Galicia  . 

XVI    The  Front  of  Ivanov 

—  vii  — 


63 
75 
87 
99 

113 
127 
141 

157 
169 

185 
199 
209 
221 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAGE 

XVII  Hunting  for  the  Army  of  the  Bukovina  .  235 

XVIII  The  Russian  Left 247 

XIX  With  a  Russian  Cavalry  Corps.         .        .  259 

XX  On  the  Zota  Lipa 273 

XXI  A  Visit  to  an  Historic  Army    .         .        .  289 


XXII    The  New  Army  of   the  Former  Dunajec 
Line 


XXIII  Back  to  the  Warsaw  Front 

XXIV  The  Loss  of  Warsaw 
XXV    Conclusion 


301 

311 
319 

339 


—  viu  — 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO   FACE 
PAGE 

His  Imperial  Majesty  the  Tsar  of  all  the  Russias  Frontis. 
Occupation  of  Przemysl  by  the  Russians.     Austrians 

leaving  as  prisoners    ......         4 

Austrian  prisoners  leaving  Przemysl) 
Russian  occupation  of  Przemysl        ^ 
Cossack  patrol  entering  Przemysl       .         .         .         . . 

Russian  occupation  of  Przemysl.     Governor's  bodyguard  [       8 

entering  Government  House        .         .         .         . 
Destroyed  by  the  Austrians  before  leaving  Przemysl) 
Principal  street  in  Przemysl    .  .         .         .         .  i 

Austrian  and  Hungarian  prisoners  en  route  to  Lwow      14 
Austrian  prisoners  resting  by  the  roadside  during  their 

march  from  Przemysl  .....       17 

Austrian  prisoners  leaving  Przemysl  ....       20 
Russian  Governor  of  Przemysl  ....       33 

Russian  occupation  of  Przemysl.     Headquarters  of  Staff      35 
Feeding  Austrian  prisoners  en  route  to  Lwow   .  .       37 

General  Hubert,  Chief  of  Austrian  Staff  in  Przemysl      38 
A  Russian  officer  inspecting  eight-inch  gun         .         .       44 

Russian  bath  train 48 

The  Emperor  with  his  Staff      •         •         •         •         1      c6 
Russian  nurses  attend  to  the  feeding  of  the  soldiers) 
Russian  soldiers  performing  their  native  dance  .  .       68 

The  Polish  Legion.     Note  the  small  boy  in  the  ranks  as 

mascot       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .76 

The  Vistula  (winter) 80 

—  ix  — 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO   FACE 
PAGE 

Russian  officers  in  an  artillery  observation  position    .       92 

A  first-line  trench  in  Poland     .....     104 

Russian  General  inspecting  his  gunners      .         .         .     106 

Telephoning  to  the  battery  from  the  observation  position     108 

In  the  trenches  near  Opatov     .         .         .         .         .116 

Second-line  trenches,  Opatov     .         .         .         .         .118 

A  second-line  trench  near  Opatov      ....     122 

A  Russian  first-line  trench  near  Lublin)     .  .  o  c 

^  .  .  T    ,  ,.  r     between  128  &  129 

German  position  near  Lubhn     .         .     ) 

March-past  of  the  Gonogoriski  Regiment    .  .  .     130 

Men  of  the  Gonogoriski  Regiment  cheering  King  George  V    132 

Men  of  the  Gonogoriski  Regiment     ....     134 

Howitzer  battery  in  Poland       .....     142 

Cossacks   on   the  Dniester.     Officers'   quarters  in   the 

woods         ........     144 

The  Polish  Legion    .......     150 

The  colours  of  the  Siberians      .....     164 

Respirator  drill  in  the  trenches) 

Austrians  leaving  Przemysl        j         •  •  •  • 

Siberians  returning  from  the  trenches         .         .         .     178 
General  Brussilov      .         .         .         . 

General  Ivanov  .  .      ) 

My  car  in  a  Galician  village  j   ' 

G.  H.  Mewes 248 

Stanley  Washburn,   Prince   Oblensky,   Count  Tolstoy, 

Count  Keller      .         .         .         .         .         .         .251 

Cossacks  dancing  the  Tartars'  native  dance        .         .     254 
HJ.H.    The    Grand    Duke    Michael    Alexandrovitch, 

Commander  of  two  divisions  of  Cossacks     .         .     261 
The  Russian  soldier  at  meal-time.     Ten  men  share  the 

soup 268 


Cavalry  taking  up  position        .  .  .        ) 


213 

222 


280 


Russian  band  playing  the  men  to  the  trenches  > 
After   the    Russian    evacuation   of   Lwow.     The    Bug 

Lancers  retreating  in  good  order  .         .         .     290 

—  X  — 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO   FACE 
PAGE 

A  Russian  eight-inch  gun  going  into  position  during  the 

fighting  round  Lubhn 302 

Russian   artillery  officers   in   an   observation   position 

during  the  fighting  round  Lubhn         .  .  .      306 

Retreat  from  Warsaw.     Burning  crops       .         .         .  ^ 
The    retreat  from  Warsaw.     A  Jewish  family  leaving  >  312 

Warsaw     .         .         .         .         .         •         •         • 
Retreat  from  Warsaw.     A  PoHsh  Jew        .         .         .314 
The  evacuation  of  Warsaw.     Copper  and  bells  were  all 

taken  away        .......     316 

The  retreat  from  Warsaw 3^9 

The  retreat  from  Warsaw.     Ammunition  on  the  road     320 

During  the  retreat  from  Warsaw  ] 

Russian  armoured  motor-car       .  J    ' 

The  retreat  from  Warsaw.     Wounded  in  a  barn  outside 

Warsaw     ........     324 

The  retreat  from  Warsaw.     German  prisoners  housed 

in  a  barn  .......     326 

The  retreat  from  Warsaw.     Artillery  on  the  road       .     328 
During  the  retreat  from  Warsaw.     Note  wounded  man  in 

foreground  .......     330 

The  retreat  from  Warsaw.    One  of  the  last  regiments  to 

pass  through  Warsaw  .....     332 

Siberians  leaving  the  last  trench  before  Warsaw  .     334 

A  batch  of  German  prisoners  captured  during  the  retreat 

from  Warsaw     .......     339 

Refugees  on  the  road  to  Brest  Litovsk      .         .         .     340 
Roll  call  during  the  retreat  from  Warsaw.     All  that  was 

left  of  them       .......     342 

Resting  during  the  retreat  from  Warsaw  .  .  .     344 

Wounded  returning  to  Warsaw  )  g 

On  the  banks  of  the  River  Dniester  J        *         '         * 


XI 


THE  FALL  OF  PRZEMYSL 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  FALL  OF  PRZEMYSL 

Dated  : 
Lwow,  Galicia, 

April  I,  1915. 

I 

THE  news  of  the  fall  of  Przemysl  reached 
Petrograd  on  the  morning  of  March  23, 
and  the  announcement  was  given  out  by  the 
War  Office  at  noon.  The  spring  is  very  late 
in  Russia  this  year,  and  so  much  snow  and  such 
intense  cold  have  not  been  known  so  late  in 
March  for  more  than  a  hundred  years.  On 
the  23rd  it  was  snowing  heavily  in  Petrograd 
and  a  biting  wind  was  sweeping  through  the 
streets.  Save  for  an  occasional  street  car  and 
foot  passengers  the  Moika  and  even  the  Nevsky 
Prospekt  were  at  noon  almost  as  empty  as  at 
midnight.  And  then  came  the  announcement 
that  the  great  fortress  in  Galicia  had  fallen.  In 
an  hour  the  news  was  all  over  the  town  and  in 
spite  of  the  inclement  weather  the  streets  were 
thronged   with   eager   Russians,  from   Prince   to 

—  3  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

Moujik,  anxiously  asking  each  other  if  the  news 
which  had  been  so  long  promised  could  really 
be  true.  The  fall  of  Przemysl  it  must  be  remem- 
bered had  been  reported  at  least  a  dozen  times 
in  Petrograd  before  this. 

There  are  people  in  as  well  as  out  of  Russia, 
who  like  to  say  that  the  man  in  the  street  over 
here  cares  nothing  for  the  war  and  knows  less, 
but  on  this  particular  day  these  people  were 
silent.  It  was  no  wonder.  If  ever  a  people 
genuinely  rejoiced  over  good  news  it  was  the 
citizens  of  all  classes  of  Russia's  capital  when 
it  became  known  that  Przemysl  was  at  last  in 
Russian  hands.  By  three  in  the  afternoon, 
crowds  had  organized  themselves  into  bands, 
and  with  the  Russian  flag  waving  in  front,  and 
a  portrait  of  the  Czar  carried  before,  dozens  of 
bands  marched  through  the  streets  chanting 
the  deep-throated  Russian  National  anthem; 
one  of  the  most  impressive  hymns  in  the  world. 

Though  the  snow  was  still  falling  and  a  nipping 
wind  blowing,  thousands  of  the  crowds  that  now 
perambulated  the  streets  stood  bareheaded  in 
the  blast  as  each  procession  passed.  Old  re- 
tired generals  of  seventy  and  more  stood  at  rigid 
attention  as  the  portrait  of  their  monarch  and 
the  flag  of  their  nation  was  borne  past.  Mou- 
jiks,  princes,  men  and  women,  the  aged  and  the 
young  aUke,  displayed  the  same  spirit  of  ardour 

—  4  — 


I 


I 

e 

a 
o 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

and  enthusiasm  as  each  demonstration  came 
down  the  street.  While  it  is  true  that  there  is 
not  in  Russia  what  we  in  the  West  call  public 
opinion,  yet  a  stranger  living  here  during  this 
war  comes  to  feel  that  there  is  growing  up 
a  spirit  that  is  uniting  all  classes.  This  is 
the  great  hope  for  the  war.  It  is  also  Russia's 
hope  for  the  future.  In  another  generation 
it  is  destined  to  bring  forth  greater  progress  and 
unity  than  the  Empire  of  the  Czar  has  ever 
known. 

The  people  of  Petrograd  have  followed  the 
war  much  more  closely  than  one  would  have 
believed  possible.  Over  here  there  has  been 
action  from  the  day  the  war  started,  and  hardly 
a  month  when  gigantic  movements  of  some  sort 
or  other  have  not  been  under  weigh.  Petrograd 
has  been  called  on  again  and  again  to  furnish 
new  troops,  and  from  September  until  to-day 
there  has  not  been  a  week  that  one  could  not 
see  new  troops  drilling  in  the  streets.  Russia 
has  had  great  successes  and  great  setbacks,  but 
each  alike  strengthens  the  same  stubborn  deter- 
mination to  keep  pressing  forward. 

There  was  great  disappointment  when  the 
Russian  army  withdrew  a  few  weeks  ago  from 
East  Prussia,  but  it  began  to  abate  when 
it  became  known  that  the  German  advance 
was   checked.     The   Russians,  as  is   their  habit, 

—  5  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

had  pulled  themselves  together,  and  slowly  but 
surely  were  pushing  back  the  invader  just  as 
they  did  in  the  dreary  days  following  the  Sam- 
sonov  disaster  in  the  first  days  of  the  war.  Then 
came  the  news  of  Galicia  and  the  greatest  single 
success  that  the  war  has  brought  to  any  of  the 
Allies,  or  for  that  matter  to  any  of  the  belliger- 
ent powers.  When  the  details  of  the  numbers 
of  the  captured  began  to  leak  out,  the  import- 
ance of  the  success  was  first  realized,  and  not 
without  reason  did  the  Russians  begin  to  allude 
to  the  fall  of  Przemysl  as  a  second  Metz.  It 
was  generally  believed  that  the  garrison  shut  up 
within  the  fortress  did  not  total  above  50,000 
men,  and  none  were  more  surprised  than  the 
victors,  when  they  learned  that  more  than 
131,000  soldiers  and  nearly  4,000  officers  had 
fallen  into  their  hands,  not  to  mention  a 
number  of  guns  of  all  calibres  amounting 
probably  to  above  300.  These  unfortunately 
have  been  rendered  useless  by  the  Austrians 
and  must  be  charged  as  a  heavy  loss  to  them 
rather  than  as  any  direct  military  asset  gained 
by  the  Russians. 

Well  may  the  Russians  take  pride  in  what 
their  new  army  has  accomplished,  for  one  must 
go  back  to  the  taking  of  Plevna  to  find  any  such 
landmark  in  the  history  of  Russian  siege  opera- 
tions.    The   last   great   siege   in   Muscovite   his- 


Austrian  prisoners    leaving  PrzemysL 


Russian  occupation  of  Przemysl.     Austrian  officers  pay  a  last  visit  to 
the  Russian  head-quarters  before  leaving  for  Lwow. 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

tory  was  that  of  Port  Arthur,  and  one  cannot 
but  contrast  the  state  of  matters  in  Russia  ten 
years  ago,  and  now.  Port  Arthur  fell  after  a 
long  series  of  disasters  to  the  Russian  arms,  and 
the  people  all  over  the  Empire  received  the 
tidings  without  interest  and  with  that  dumb 
resignation  to  disaster  that  is  characteristic  of 
their  fatalistic  temperament.  A  spirit  of  hope- 
lessness and  despondency  and  pessimism  per- 
vaded every  class  of  Russian  society.  Announce- 
ments of  new  defeats  were  heard  without  sur- 
prise and  almost  without  interest.  "  Of  course, 
what  do  you  expect  ?  "  one  would  hear  on  all 
sides,  *'  Russian  troops  never  win."  But  now 
there  is  quite  a  different  point  of  view.  Even 
the  moujik  has  come  to  feel  a  pride  and  con- 
fidence in  his  army  and  in  its  victories.  Their 
successes  are  his  successes,  and  their  defeats 
are  his  defeats. 

One  who  takes  interest  in  studying  the 
psychology  of  countries  comes  to  realize  that  pride 
of  race  and  confidence  in  one's  blood  is  the  great- 
est asset  that  any  nation  can  possess.  Through- 
out Russia,  the  cause  in  which  her  Armies  are 
engaged  has  come  to  be  more  nearly  understood 
than  any  war  she  has  ever  engaged  in.  It  is 
not  true  of  course  that  the  peasant  knows  as 
much  as  does  the  British  Tommy ;  nor  is  there 
anything  like  the  same  enlightenment   that  pre- 

—  7  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

vails  in  the  Western  Armies.  But  in  fairness 
to  Russia  she  must  not  be  judged  from  a 
Western  standpoint,  but  compared  with  herself 
ten  years  ago. 

As  has  been  written  by  a  dozen  writers  from 
Russia  in  the  last  six  months  the  new  spirit 
was  crystallized  when  the  war  began.  It  has 
had  its  ups  and  its  downs  with  the  varying  re- 
ports from  the  Front,  but  as  each  defeat  has 
been  turned  into  a  stepping  stone  for  a  subse- 
quent advance,  public  confidence  has  gradually 
mounted  higher  and  higher,  until,  with  the  fall 
of  Przemysl,  we  find  Russian  sentiment  and 
confidence  in  Russia  at  probably  the  highest 
point  that  has  ever  been  reached  in  the  history 
of  the  Empire.  The  dawn  of  the  new  day  of 
which  we  hear  so  much  over  here  now,  bears 
every  indication  of  being  the  beginning  of  the 
much  heralded  new  Era  in  this  country. 

II 

Galicia  is  still  under  martial  law,  and  one 
cannot  even  enter  the  new  Russian  province 
without  a  permit  issued  by  the  General  Staff. 
It  is  of  course  even  more  difficult  for  one  to  get 
into  the  actual  theatre  of  war.  A  wire,  however, 
from  the  Staff  of  the  Generalissimo  to  the  powers 
that  be  in  Petrograd,  made  the  way  to  Przemysl 
possible,  and  a  few  days  after  the  fortress  had 

—  8  — 


J',  -J  »    »   > 


Cossack  patrol  entering  Przemysl. 


Russian  occupation  of  Przemysl.      Governor's  bodyguard  entering 
Government  House, 


_  J  *       • 

4   «  c  •  * 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

fallen  the  writer  reached  Lwow.  The  Russian- 
gauged  railroad  has  been  pushed  south  of  the 
old  frontier  line  to  the  town  of  Krasne,  famous 
as  the  centre  of  the  battle-line  of  Austrian  de- 
fence in  the  days  when  the  armies  of  Russky 
were  pushing  on  toward  Lwow. 

It  was  originally  intended  to  widen  the  Aus- 
trian tracks  to  take  the  Russian  rolling  stock, 
so  that  trains  might  proceed  direct  to  the  capital 
of  Galicia ;  but  it  was  found  that  the  expense 
of  carrying  on  operations  which  meant  the  widen- 
ing of  every  bridge  and  the  strengthening  of 
every  culvert  and  elevated  way,  to  take  the 
heavier  equipment,  would  involve  time  and 
expense  scarcely  less  than  building  a  new  line 
complete.  The  result  is  that  one  still  changes 
carriages  some  distance  out  of  Lwow,  a  handi- 
cap that  is  trifling  for  passenger  traffic,  but 
involving  very  real  inconvenience  and  delays 
in  the  handling  of  the  vast  amount  of  freight 
and  munitions  that  go  to  supply  the  huge 
armies  in  the  field  in  Galicia. 

Lwow  itself  is  no  longer  the  dismal  place 
that  it  was  in  the  early  autumn  when  almost 
every  public  building  was  a  hospital,  and  the 
station  a  receiving  depot  for  the  thousands 
of  fresh  wounded  that  poured  in  by  train- 
loads  from  the  positions  on  the  San  and  from 
the  trenches  before   Przemysl,    which  was    just 

—  9  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

then  undergoing  its  first  investment.  Where 
stretchers  and  throngs  of  wounded  formerly 
filled  every  available  foot  of  ground  in  the 
huge  terminus  a  few  months  ago,  all  is  now 
orderly  and  very  much  as  in  the  days  before 
the  war.  The  hotels  which  in  October  were 
filled  to  overflowing  with  officers  and  Red 
Cross  nurses,  are  now  comparatively  quiet,  and 
the  city  itself,  barring  troops  going  through  and 
prisoners  coming  from  Przemysl,  is  not  far  from 
normal.  A  few  hours  after  arriving  the  writer 
was  received  by  Count  Brobinsky,  who  frankly 
expressed  his  delight  and  relief  at  the  capture 
of  the  Galician  fortress. 

There  are  of  course  a  large  number  of  Aus- 
trians  in  Galicia,  and  ever  since  the  Russian 
occupation  in  September  a  pro-German-Austrian 
propaganda  has  been  kept  up  here.  Every 
reverse  to  the  Dual  Alliance  has  been  minimized 
as  much  as  possible,  and  every  effort  was  subtly 
made  by  the  German-Austrian  agents  of  the 
enemy  to  prevent  the  peasants  and  that  portion 
of  the  population  here  which  sympathizes  with 
the  Russians,  from  co-operating  in  the  new 
regime.  They  were  assured  that  soon  the  Aus- 
trians  would  be  coming  back,  and  fears  of  re- 
prisals when  the  day  came  have  no  doubt 
restrained  a  large  number  of  Little  Russians, 
Poles    and    others   from    openly   supporting   the 

—  10  — 


A1>RIL    TO   AUGUST,    19l5 

efforts  of  the  new  government  to  restore  Galicia 
to  its  normal  state.  But  with  each  month  it 
has  become  increasingly  difficult  for  the  Austrian 
sympathizers  to  make  the  public  believe  that 
the  Russian  occupation  was  only  a  temporary 
wave  that  would  shortly  recede.  Austro- 
German  advances  in  Bukowina,  and  the  really 
serious  aggressive  attempts  through  the  Car- 
pathians no  doubt  helped  to  render  condi- 
tions unsettled.  Then  came  the  check  of  the 
Austrian  advance  in  Bukowina  and  the  gradual 
reclaiming  by  the  Russians  of  the  ground  lost 
at  the  first  impetus  of  the  enemy's  offensive. 
This  was  followed  by  the  failure  of  the  relieving 
column  to  make  satisfactory  headway  toward 
its  objective  at  Przemysl. 

In  spite  of  all  these  very  obvious  failures  to 
achieve  any  definite  advantage  over  the  Rus- 
sians, the  spirits  of  the  anti-Russian  element 
were  kept  buoyed  up  by  the  spectacle  of  the 
great  fortress  in  Galicia  still  holding  out.  ''  As 
long  as  Przemysl  stands  out  there  is  hope/' 
seems  to  have  been  the  general  opinion  of  all 
who  wished  ill  to  the  Russians.  Thus  the  for- 
tress, which  at  the  outset  might  have  been  aban- 
doned with  small  loss  of  prestige  to  the  Aus- 
trians,  gradually  came  to  have  a  political  as 
well  as  military  significance  of  the  most  far  reach- 
ing importance.     In  the  general  crash  after  the 

—  II  — 


The   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

battle  of  the  Grodek  line,  the  loss  of  a  town 
which  until  then  had  never  been  heard  of  in 
the  West,  outside  of  military  circles,  would  have 
escaped  anything  more  than  passing  comment. 
Not  until  the  Russian  armies  had  actually  swept 
past  its  trenches  and  masked  its  forts,  did  the 
world  at  large  know  that  such  a  place  was  on 
the  map  ;  even  then  the  greatest  interest  mani- 
fested was  in  the  vexed  question  as  to  how  its 
name  was  pronounced,  if  indeed  it  could  be  done 
at  all,  an  opinion  which  was  held  by  not  a  few 
people.  This  place  which  could  have  been  given 
up  earlier  in  the  war  without  any  important 
sacrifice  was  held  tenaciously  and  became  one 
of  the  vital  points  of  strategy  in  the  whole  cam- 
paign. An  army  which  turned  out  to  be  a  huge 
one,  was  isolated  from  the  field  armies  of  Austria 
at  a  time  when  she  needed  every  able-bodied 
man  that  she  could  get ;  and  Przemysl,  which,  as 
we  see  now,  was  doomed  from  the  start,  was 
allowed  to  assume  an  importance  in  the  cam- 
paign which  made  its  fall  not  only  a  severe  mili- 
tary loss  but  a  blow  to  the  hopes  of  the  Austrians, 
both  at  home  and  in  Galicia.  The  fall  of  this 
fortress  has  gone  further  towards  shattering 
any  hopes  of  ultimate  victory  that  have  been 
entertained  than  anything  that  has  occurred 
since  the  war  started. 

As  Count  Brobinsky,  who  for  six  months  now 

—  12  — 


^Kb..  ' 

! 

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^" 

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pjip^H 

1 

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— 

^                ^ 

Destroyed  by  the  Austrians  before  leaving  Przemysl. 


Principal  street  in  Przemysl. 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

has  been  struggling  to  readjust  Galicia  to  the 
normal,  said,  his  task  has  now  been  enormously 
simplified,  and  there  is  scarcely  an  element  left 
here  that  now  believes  there  is  any  chance  of 
Austria  winning  back  her  lost  province.  The 
Austrian  agents  have  abandoned  hope,  and  the 
Russian  sympathizers  are  now  openly  declaring 
their  loyalty  to  the  new  regime.  There  is,  how- 
ever, a  class  of  bureaucrats  left  here  aggregating, 
I  am  informed,  nearly  40,000  in  number.  This 
class  is  composed  of  Poles,  Austrians  and  others 
who  for  generations  have  been  holding  the  best 
offices  at  the  disposal  of  the  Vienna  government. 
These  are  of  course,  almost  to  a  man,  out  of  their 
lucrative  posts,  and  represent  the  element  that 
has  most  vigorously,  if  quietly,  attempted  to 
undermine  the  activities  of  the  government  in- 
stalled here  by  Russia.  But  even  these  see  in 
the  collapse  of  their  great  fortress  the  evapora- 
tion of  their  chief  hopes. 

As  Galicia  is  still  under  martial  law,  all  the 
motor  cars  have  been  taken  over  by  the  mili- 
tary authorities  and  so,  even  armed  with  passes 
and  permits,  we  found  it  all  but  impossible  to 
reach  Przemysl.  The  best  horses  here  are  in 
the  army  service,  and  the  few  skinny  horses 
attached  to  the  cabs  find  it  difficult  even  to 
stagger  from  the  station  to  the  hotel,  and  it  was 
out  of  the  question  to  go  by  carriage  the  94  kilo- 

—  13  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

metres  to  Przemysl.  But  when  we  told  Count 
Brobinsky  of  our  difficulties,  he  solved  them  by 
promptly  placing  a  huge  military  touring  car 
at  our  disposal ;  he  further  paved  the  way  for 
a  pleasant  trip  to  the  scene  of  the  Russian  achieve- 
ment by  giving  us  a  personal  letter  of  introduc- 
tion to  General  Atrimanov,  the  new  Russian 
commandant  of  the  captured  fortress. 

Ill 

The  spring  is  late  here  as  it  is  throughout 
Russia  this  year,  and  it  was  snowing  heavily  as 
our  big  touring  car,  with  a  soldier  as  chauffeur, 
threaded  its  way  in  the  early  morning  through 
the  narrow  streets  of  Lwow  and  out  into  the 
open  country  which  was  now  almost  white. 
Before  we  have  been  twenty  minutes  on  the 
road  we  begin  to  pass  occasional  groups  of  dis- 
mal wretches  in  the  blue  uniform  which  before 
this  war  was  wont  to  typify  the  might  of  the 
Hapsburgs,  but  which  now  in  Galicia  is  the 
symbol  of  dejection  and  defeat.  Through  the 
falling  snow  they  plod  in  little  parties  of  from 
three  to  a  dozen  ;  evidently  the  rear  guard  of 
the  column  that  went  through  yesterday,  for 
they  are  absolutely  without  guards,  and  are  no 
doubt  simply  dragging  on  after  their  regiments. 

From  Lwow  almost  due  west  runs  the  line  of 
the  highway  to  Grodek  where  we  get  our  first 

_  14  — 


u 
a 

"00 

c 
X 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

glimpse  of  prisoners  in  bulk.  Here,  at  the  scene 
of  some  of  the  fiercest  fighting  that  the  war  has 
produced,  is  a  rest  station  for  the  columns  that 
are  making  the  journey  to  Russian  captivity 
on  foot  from  Przemysl  to  Lwow,  and  I  know 
not  how  far  beyond.  As  we  motor  into  the 
town  the  three  battalions  of  the  gth  Hungarian 
regiment  of  the  54th  Lands turm  brigade  are  just 
straggling  into  the  town  from  the  west.  With 
a  few  Russians  who  seem  to  be  acting  as  guides 
and  nurses  rather  than  as  guards,  they  file  through 
the  streets  and  into  a  great  square  of  a  barracks. 
Here  they  are  marshalled  in  columns  of  four, 
and  marched  past  the  door  of  the  barracks  where 
an  official  counts  the  individual  fours  and 
makes  a  note  of  the  number  that  have  passed 
his  station.  Beyond  in  a  grove  the  ranks 
are  broken,  and  the  weary-looking  men  drop 
down  under  the  trees,  regardless  of  the  snow 
and  mud,  and  shift  their  burdens  and  gnaw  at 
the  hunks  of  bread  and  other  provisions  fur- 
nished them  by  the  Russians. 

It  is  hard  to  realize  that  the  haggard  despon- 
dent rabble  that  we  see  has  ever  been  part  of 
an  actual  army  in  being.  Most  of  them  were 
evidently  clothed  for  a  summer  campaign,  and 
their  thin  and  tattered  uniform  overcoats  must 
have  given  but  scant  warmth  during  the  winter 
that    has    passed.     The    line    is    studded    with 

—  15  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

civilian  overcoats,  and  many  of  the  prisoners 
have  only  a  cap  or  a  fragment  of  a  uniform  which 
identifies  them  as  ever  having  been  soldiers  at  all. 
The  women  of  the  village  pass  up  and  down 
the  line  giving  the  weary  troops  bits  of  pro- 
vision not  in  the  Russian  menu.  All  the  men  are 
wan  and  thin,  with  dreary  hopelessness  written 
large  upon  their  faces,  and  a  vacant  stare 
of  utter  desolation  in  their  hollow  eyes.  They 
accept  gladly  what  is  given  and  make  no  com- 
ment. They  get  up  and  sit  down  as  directed 
by  their  guards,  apparently  with  no  more  sense 
of  initiative  or  independence  of  will  than  the 
merest  automatons.  We  pause  but  a  few  min- 
utes, for  the  roads  are  bad  and  we  are  anxious 
to  get  over  the  muddy  way  as  quickly  as  possible. 

The  western  portion  of  Grodek  was  badly 
knocked  up  by  shell  fire  during  the  battle  in 
September,  and  the  barren  walls  of  charred 
buildings  remain  to  tell  the  story  of  the  Aus- 
trian effort  to  stay  the  tide  of  the  Russian  ad- 
vance that  swept  them  out  of  position  after  posi- 
tion during  the  first  weeks  of  the  war.  Grodek 
was  reported  to  have  been  utterly  destroyed  at 
the  time,  but  as  a  fact,  not  more  than  one-fifth 
of  the  buildings  were  even  damaged  by  the 
artillery  fire. 

Just  east  of  Sadowa  Wisznia,  the  scene  of 
another  Austrian  stand,  we  come  upon  a  regiment 
—  i6  — 


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APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

attached  to  the  54th  Landsturm  brigade.  This 
is  the  tenth  regiment,  and,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  non-commissioned  officers,  is  com- 
posed entirely  of  Slovaks  and  Hungarians.  They 
are  resting  as  we  motor  up,  and  for  nearly  a 
mile  they  are  sitting  dejectedly  by  the  side  of 
the  road,  some  with  heads  resting  wearily  against 
tree  trunks,  while  dozens  of  others  are  lying  in 
the  snow  and  mud  apparently  asleep.  As  nearly 
as  I  could  estimate,  there  is  about  one  Russian 
to  a  hundred  prisoners.  In  any  case  one  has 
to  look  about  sharply  to  see  the  guards  at  all. 
It  reminds  one  a  bit  of  trying  to  pick  a  queen 
bee  out  of  a  swarm  of  workers.  Usually  one 
discovers  the  guard  sitting  with  a  group  of 
prisoners,  talking  genially,  his  rifle  leaning  against 
the  trunk  of  a  tree  near  by. 

We  stopped  here  for  about  half  an  hour  while 
I  walked  about  trying  to  find  some  prisoners 
who  could  speak  German,  but  for  the  most  part 
that  language  was  unknown  to  them.  At  last 
I  discovered  a  couple  of  non-commissioned  officers, 
who,  when  they  heard  that  I  was  an  American, 
opened  up  and  talked  quite  freely.  Both  took 
great  pride  in  repeating  the  statement  that 
Przemysl  could  never  have  been  taken  by  assault, 
and  that  it  had  only  surrendered  because  of 
lack  of  food. 

One   of  the  men  was  from  Vienna    and  ex- 
—  17  —  c 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

tremely  pro-German  in  his  point  of  view.  He 
took  it  as  a  matter  of  course  that  the  Aus- 
trians  were  defeated  everywhere,  but  seemed 
to  feel  a  confidence  that  could  not  be  shaken 
in  the  German  troops.  He  knew  nothing  of 
the  situation  outside  of  his  own  garrison,  and 
when  told  of  Kitchener's  new'  British  Army, 
laughed  sardonically.  ''It  is  a  joke,"  he  said, 
''  Kitchener's  army  is  only  on  paper,  and  even 
if  they  had  half  a  million  as  they  claim  to  have, 
they  would  be  of  no  use.  The  English  cannot 
fight  at  all."  When  told  that  over  two  million 
men  had  been  recruited  in  the  British  Empire 
he  opened  his  eyes  a  bit,  but  after  swallowing 
a  few  times  he  came  back,  ''  Well  even  if  they 
have  it  does  not  matter.     They  can't  fight." 

The  other  man  whom  I  questioned  was  mainly 
interested  in  how  long  the  war  was  going  to 
last.  He  did  not  seem  to  feel  any  particular 
regret  at  the  fall  of  the  fortress,  nor  to  care  very 
much  who  won,  as  long  as  it  would  soon  be  over 
so  that  he  could  go  home  again.  As  for  the 
rank  and  file  I  think  it  perfectly  safe  to  suggest 
that  not  one  in  a  hundred  has  any  feeling  at 
all  except  that  of  hopeless  perpetual  misery. 
They  have  been  driven  into  a  war  for  which 
they  care  little,  they  have  been  forced  to  endure 
the  hardships  of  a  winter  in  the  trenches  with 
insufficient   clothing,  a  winter   terminating   with 

—  i8  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

a  failure  of  food  supplies  that  brought  them  all 
to  the  verge  of  starvation.  The  fall  of  the  for- 
tress means  to  them  three  meals  of  some  sort 
a  day,  and  treatment  probably  kinder  than  they 
ever  got  from  their  own  officers.  They  are 
at  least  freed  from  the  burden  of  war  and  relieved 
of  the  constant  menace  of  sudden  death  which 
has  been  their  portion  since  August. 

The  road  leading  west  from  Sadowa  Wisznia  is 
in  fearful  condition  owing  to  the  heavy  traffic  of 
the  Russian  transport,  and  in  places  the  mud 
was  a  foot  deep.  The  country  here  is  flat  with 
occasional  patches  of  fir  and  spruce  timber. 
It  is  questionable  if  there  ever  was  much  pros- 
perity in  this  belt ;  and  since  it  has  been 
swept  for  six  months  by  contending  armies,  one 
cannot  feel  much  optimism  as  to  what  the  future 
has  in  store  for  the  unfortunate  peasants  whose 
homes  are  destroyed,  and  whose  live  stock 
is  said  to  have  been  taken  off  by  the  Austrians 
as   they   fell   back   before   the   Russians. 

IV 

One's  preconceived  idea  of  what  a  modern 
fortress  looks  like  vanishes  rapidly  as  one  enters 
Przemysl.  In  time  of  peace  it  is  probable  that 
a  layman  might  pass  into  this  town  without 
suspecting  at  all  that  its  power  of  resisting  attack 
is  nearly  as  great  as  any  position  in  all  Europe. 

—  19  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

Now,  of  course,  innumerable  field  works,  trenches, 
and  improvised  defences  at  once  attract  the 
attention ;  but  other  than  these  there  is  visible 
from  the  main  road  but  one  fortress,  which, 
approached  from  the  east  is  so  extremely  un- 
pretentious in  appearance  that  it  is  doubtful 
if  one  would  give  it  more  than  a  passing  glance 
if  one  were  not  on  the  lookout  for  it. 

Przemysl  itself  is  an  extremely  old  town  which 
I  believe  was  for  nearly  i,ooo  years  a  Russian 
city.  From  remote  days  of  antiquity  it  has 
been  a  fortress,  and  following  the  ancient  tradi- 
tion, each  successive  generation  has  kept  im- 
proving its  defences  until  to-day  it  is  in  reality 
a  modern  stronghold.  Why  the  Austrians  have 
made  this  city,  which  in  itself  is  of  no  great  im- 
portance, the  site  of  their  strongest  position,  is 
not  in  the  least  obvious  to  the  layman  observer. 
The  town  itself,  a  mixture  of  quaint  old  build- 
ings and  comparatively  modern  structures,  Hes 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  river  San — which  at 
this  point  is  about  the  size  of  the  Bow  river 
at  Calgary,  in  Canada — and  perhaps  3  kilo- 
metres above  the  point  where  the  small  stream 
of  the  Wiar  comes  in  from  the  south.  The  httle 
city  is  hardly  visible  until  one  is  almost  upon  it, 
so  well  screened  is  it  by  rolling  hills  that  lie  all 
about  it.  Probably  the  prevailing  impression 
in  the  world  has  been  that  the  Russian  great 

—  20  — 


V.ih'-V. 


••••--•• 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

guns  have  been  dropping  shells  into  the  heart 
of  the  town  ;  many  people  even  in  Lwow  be- 
lieve it  to  be  in  a  half -ruined  condition.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  nearest  of  the  first  line  of 
forts  is  about  lo  kilometres  from  the  town  it- 
self, so  that  in  the  whole  siege  not  a  shell  from 
the  Russian  batteries  has  fallen  in  the  town 
itself.  Probably  none  has  actually  fallen  within 
5  kilometres  of  the  cit}^  There  was  there- 
fore no  danger  of  the  civilian  population  suffer- 
ing  anything  from  the  bombardment  while  the 
outer  line  of  forts  held  as  they  did  from  the 
beginning. 

The  only  forts  or  works  which  we  were  given 
the  opportunity  of  seeing,  were  those  visible 
from  the  road,  the  authorities  informing  us  that 
they  had  reason  to  believe  that  many  of  the 
trenches  and  positions  were  mined,  and  that 
no  one  would  be  permitted  in  them  until  they 
had  been  examined  by  the  engineers  of  the  army 
and  pronounced  safe.  If  the  works  seen  from 
the  road  are  typical  of  the  defences,  and  I  be- 
lieve they  are,  one  can  quite  well  realize  the 
impregnable  nature  of  the  whole  position.  The 
road  from  Lwow  comes  over  the  crest  of  a 
hill  and  stretches  like  a  broad  ribbon  for  per- 
haps 5  kilometres  over  an  open  plain,  on  the 
western  edge  of  which  a  sHght  rise  of  ground 
gives  the  elevation  necessary  for  the  first  Aus- 

—  21  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

trian  line.  To  the  north  of  the  road  is  a  fort, 
with  the  glacis  so  beautifully  sodded  that  it 
is  hardly  noticeable  as  one  approaches,  though 
the  back  is  dug  out  and  galleried  for  heavy  guns. 
Before  this  is  a  ditch  with  six  rows  of  sunken 
barbed  wire  entanglements,  and  a  hundred  yards 
from  this  is  another  series  of  entanglements 
twelve  rows  deep,  and  so  criss-crossed  with  barbed 
wire  that  it  would  take  a  man  hours  to  cut  his 
way  through  with  no  other  opposition. 

To  the  right  of  the  road  runs  a  beautifully 
constructed  line  of  modern  trenches.  These 
are  covered  in  and  sodded  and  buried  in  earth 
deep  enough  to  keep  out  anything  less  than  a 
6-inch  field  howitzer  shell  unless  it  came  at  a 
very  abrupt  angle.  To  shrapnel  or  any  field 
gun  high  explosive  shell,  I  should  think  it  would 
have  proved  invulnerable.  The  trench  itself 
lies  on  a  slight  crest  with  enough  elevation  to 
give  loop  holes  command  of  the  terrain  before. 
The  field  of  fire  visible  from  these  trenches  is  at 
least  4  kilometres  of  country,  and  so  perfectly 
cleared  of  shelter  of  all  sorts  that  it  would  be 
difficult  for  a  rabbit  to  cross  it  unseen.  The 
ditch  and  two  series  of  wire  entanglements  ex- 
tend in  front  of  the  entire  position.  This  line 
is,  I  believe,  typical  of  the  whole  outer  line  of 
fortifications,  which  is  composed  of  a  number  of 
forts  all  of  which  are  tied  together  with  the  line 

—  22  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

of  trenches.  The  outer  hne  is  above  40  kilo- 
metres in  circumference,  from  which  it  may  be 
judged  to  what  great  expense  Austria  has  been 
put  in  fortifying  this  city.  I  was  not  able  to 
get  any  accurate  information  as  to  the  number 
of  guns  which  the  Austrians  have  on  their  vari- 
ous positions,  but  the  opinion  of  a  conservative 
officer  was,  that,  excluding  machine  guns,  there 
were  at  least  300  and  possibly  a  greater  number. 
The  inventory  has  not  yet  been  completed  by 
the  Russians.  These  are  said  to  range  in  cali- 
bre from  the  field  piece  up  to  heavy  guns  of 
30  centimetres.  I  was  informed  that  there 
were  a  few  36  and  one  or  two  of  the  famous  42 
centimetres  here  when  the  war  started,  but 
that  the  Germans  had  borrowed  them  for  their 
operations  in  the  West.  In  any  case  it  is  hard 
to  see  how  the  big  guns,  even  of  the  30  centi- 
metres, would  be  of  any  great  value  to  a  defence 
firing  out  over  a  crest  of  hills  in  the  distant  land- 
scape behind  which,  in  an  irregular  line  of  trenches, 
an  enemy  lay. 

After  a  few  experiments  against  the  works, 
the  Russians  seem  to  have  reached  the  conclu- 
sion that  it  would  not  be  worth  while  even  to 
attempt  carrying  the  trenches  by  assault.  In- 
deed, in  the  opinion  of  the  writer  neither  the 
Russians  nor  any  other  troops  ever  could  have 
taken  them  with  the  bayonet ;    the  only  method 

—  23  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

possible  would  have  been  the  slow  and  patient 
methods  of  sapping  and  mining  which  was  used 
by  the  Japanese  at  Port  Arthur  But  methods 
so  costly,  both  in  time  and  lives,  would  seem  to 
have  been  hardly  justified  here  because,  as  the 
Russians  well  knew,  it  was  merely  a  question  of 
time  before  the  encircled  garrison  would  eat  it- 
self up,  and  the  whole  position  would  then  fall 
into  their  hands  without  the  cost  of  a  single 
life. 

The  strategic  value  of  Przemysl  itself  was 
in  no  way  acutely  delaying  the  Russian  cam- 
paigns elsewhere,  and  they  could  afford  to  let 
the  Austrian  General  who  shut  himself  and  a 
huge  army  up  in  Przemysl,  play  their  own  game 
for  them,  which  is  exactly  what  happened.  There 
was  no  such  situation  here  as  at  Port  Arthur, 
where  the  menace  of  a  fleet  in  being  locked  up 
in  the  harbour  necessitated  the  capture  of  the  Far 
Eastern  stronghold  before  the  Russian  second  fleet 
could  appear  on  the  scene  and  j  oin  forces  with 
it.  Nor  was  there  even  any  such  important  factor 
as  that  which  confronted  the  Germans  at  Liege. 
To  the  amateur  it  seems  then  that  the  Austrians, 
with  eyes  open,  isolated  a  force  which  at  the  start 
must  have  numbered  nearly  four  army  corps, 
in  a  position  upon  which  their  programme  was  not 
dependent,  and  under  conditions  which  made 
its  eventual  capture   a  matter  of  absolute  cer- 

—  24  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

tainty  providing  only  that  the  siege  was  not  re- 
lieved from  without  by  their  own  armies  from 
the  South. 

The  lesson  of  Przemysl  may  be  a  very  instruc- 
tive one  in  future  wars.  The  friends  of  General 
Sukomlinoff,  the  Russian  Minister  of  War,  are 
claiming  with  some  reason  that  what  has  hap- 
pened here  is  a  vindication  of  the  Minis- 
ter's theory,  that  fortresses  in  positions  which 
are  not  of  absolute  necessity  to  the  military 
situation  should  never  be  built  at  all,  or 
should  be  abandoned  at  the  inception  of  war 
rather  than  defended  unwisely  and  at  great 
cost.  It  is  claimed  that  if  the  Warsaw  forts 
had  not  been  scrapped  some  years  ago,  the 
Russian  Army  to-day  would  be  standing  a  siege, 
or  at  least  a  partial  siege,  within  the  city,  rather 
than  fighting  on  a  line  of  battle  40  kilometres 
to  the  west  of  it.  Port  Arthur  is  perhaps  an 
excellent  example  of  the  menace  of  a  fortified 
position  of  great  strength.  So  much  had  been 
done  to  make  that  citadel  impregnable  that 
the  Russians  never  dreamed  of  giving  it  up. 
The  result  was  that  a  position,  which  was  doomed 
to  succumb  eventually,  was  made  the  centre  of 
all  the  Russian  strategy.  For  months  the  army 
in  the  North  was  forced  to  make  attempt  after 
attempt  to  relieve  the  position,  with  the  results 
that  they  lost  probably  four  times  the  number 

—  25  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

of  the  garrison  in  futile  efforts  to  relieve  it.  A 
fortress  which  has  cost  large  sums  of  money 
must  be  defended  at  any  cost  to  justify  the 
country  that  has  incurred  the  expense.  Forces 
which  can  probably  be  ill  spared  from  field  opera- 
tions are  locked  up  for  the  purpose  of  protect- 
ing expensive  works  which,  as  in  the  case  of 
Przemysl,  yield  them  little  or  nothing  but  the 
ultimate  collapse  of  their  defence,  and  the  con- 
sequent demoralization  of  the  field  armies  which 
have  come  to  attach  an  importance  to  the 
fortress  which,  from  a  strategic  point  of  view, 
it  probably  never  possessed. 

V 

The  last  few  kilometres  of  the  road  into  Prze- 
mysl was  alive  with  Russian  transport  plodding 
into  the  town,  but  the  way  was  singularly  free 
from  troops  of  any  sort.  With  the  exception 
of  a  few  Cossack  patrols  and  an  occasional  officer 
or  orderly  ploughing  through  the  mud,  there 
was  nothing  to  indicate  that  a  large  Russian 
army  was  in  the  vicinity.  It  is  possible  that  it  has 
already  been  moved  elsewhere ;  in  any  case 
we  saw  nothing  of  it. 

Between  the  outer  line  of  forts  and  the  Wiar 
river  are  a  number  of  improvised  field  w^orks, 
all  of  which  looked  as  though  they  could  stand 
a  good  bit  of  taking,  but  of  course  they  were 

—  26  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

not  as  elaborate  as  the  first  line.  The  railroad 
crosses  the  little  Wiar  on  a  steel  bridge,  but  the 
bridge  now  lies  a  tangle  of  steel  girders  in  the 
river.  It  is  quite  obvious  that  the  Austrian 
commander  destroyed  his  bridges  west  of  the 
town  because  they  afforded  direct  communica- 
tions with  the  lines  beyond ;  but  the  bridge 
over  the  Wiar  has  no  military  value  whatsoever, 
the  others  being  gone,  save  to  give  convenient 
all  rail  access  to  the  heart  of  Przemysl  itself. 
The  town  was  given  up  the  next  day  and,  as 
the  natural  consequence  of  the  Austrian  com- 
mander's conception  of  his  duty,  all  food  sup- 
plies had  to  be  removed  from  the  railway  trucks 
at  the  bridge,  loaded  into  wagons,  and  make 
the  rest  of  the  journey  into  the  town  in  that 
way,  resulting  in  an  absolutely  unnecessary  delay 
in  relieving  the  wants  of  the  half-famished  gar- 
rison within.  The  only  bright  spot  that  this 
action  presents  to  the  unprejudiced  observer 
is  that  it  necessitated  the  dainty,  carefully-shod 
Austrian  officers  walking  three  kilometres  through 
the  mud  before  they  could  embark  on  the  trains 
to  take  them  to  the  points  of  detention  for  pris- 
oners in  Russia.  There  cannot  be  the  slight- 
est doubt  that  the  rank  and  file  of  the  garrison 
were  actually  on  the  verge  of  starvation,  and 
that  the  civilian  population  were  not  far  from 
the  same  fate.     As  near  as  one  can  learn  the 

—  27  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

latter  consisted  of  about  40,000  persons.  I  am 
told  that  the  prisoners  numbered  131,000  men 
and  some  3,600  officers,  and  that  perhaps  20,000 
have  died  during  the  siege  from  wounds  and 
disease.  This,  then,  makes  a  population  at 
the  beginning  of  nearly  200,000  in  a  fortifica- 
tion which,  as  experts  say,  could  have  easily 
been  held  by  50,000  troops.  One  officer  even 
went  so  far  as  to  declare  that  in  view  of  the  won- 
derful defensive  capacity  of  the  position  30,000 
might  have  made  a  desperate  stand.  The  for- 
tress was  thus  easily  three  times  over  garrisoned. 
In  other  words  there  were  perhaps  at  the  start 
150,000  mouths  to  feed  in  the  army  alone,  when 
50,000  men  would  have  been  able  to  hold  the 
position.  This  alone  made  the  approach  of 
starvation  sure  and  swift.  The  fact  that  in  this 
number  of  men  there  were  3,600  officers,  nine 
of  the  rank  of  General,  indicates  pretty  clearly 
the  extent  to  which  the  garrison  was  over 
officered.  Kusmanek,  the  commander  of  the 
fortress,  is  said  to  have  had  seventy-five  officers 
on  his  personal  staff  alone. 

As  far  as  one  can  learn  there  was  no  par- 
ticular pinch  in  the  town  until  everything  was 
nearly  gone,  and  then  conditions  became  sud- 
denly acute.  It  is  improbable  that  economy 
was  enforced  in  the  early  dispensing  of  food 
supplies,  and  the  husbanding  of  such  resources 

—  28  — 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

as  were  at  hand.  When  the  crisis  came,  it  fell 
first  upon  the  unfortunate  soldiers,  with  whom 
their  officers  seem  to  have  little  in  common. 
Transport  horses  were  killed  first,  and  then  the 
cavalry  mounts  went  to  the  slaughter  house 
to  provide  for  the  garrison.  The  civilians  next 
felt  the  pinch  of  hunger,  and  every  live  thing 
that  could  nourish  the  human  body  was  eaten. 
Cats  I  am  told  were  selling  at  ten  kr.  each  and 
fair-sized  dogs  at  twenty-five  kr.  The  extra- 
ordinary part  of  the  story  is  that  according 
to  evidence  collected  from  many  sources  the 
officers  never  even  changed  their  standards  of 
living.  While  the  troops  were  literally  starv- 
ing in  the  trenches,  the  dilettantes  from  Vienna, 
who  were  in  command,  were  taking  life  easily 
in  the  Cafe  Sieber  and  the  Cafe  Elite.  Three 
meals  a  day,  fresh  meat,  wines,  cigarettes  and 
fine  cigars  were  served  to  them  up  to  the  last. 
One  of  the  haggard  starved-looking  servants 
in  the  hotel  where  I  was  quartered  told  me  that 
several  of  the  staff  officers  lived  at  the  hotel. 
*'  They,"  he  said, ''  had  everything  as  usual.  Fresh 
meat  and  all  the  luxuries  were  at  their  disposal 
until  the  last.  Yet  their  soldier  servant  used 
to  come  to  me,  and  one  day  when  I  gave  him  half 
of  a  bit  of  bread  I  was  eating,  his  hands  trembled 
as  he  reached  to  take  it  from  me."  My  inform- 
ant   paused    and    then    concluded    sardonically, 

—  29  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

"  No,  the  officers  did  not  suffer.  Not  they.  It 
was  cafes,  biUiards,  dinners  and  an  easy  hfe  for 
them  to  the  end.  But  the  rest  of  us.  Ah,  yes, 
we  have  suffered.  Had  the  siege  lasted  another 
week  we  should  all  have  been  black  in  the  face 
for  want  of  food.'' 

An  Austrian  sister  who  had  been  working  in 
the  hospital  confirmed  the  story.  ''Is  it  true 
that  people  were  starving  here  ?  "  I  asked  her. 
''  Indeed  it  is  true,"  she  told  me,  ''  the  soldiers 
had  almost  nothing  and  the  civilians  were  little 
better  off.  As  for  us  in  the  hospitals — ^well, 
we  really  suffered  for  want  of  food."  ''But 
how  about  the  officers  ?  "  I  asked.  She  looked 
at  me  sharply  out  of  the  corner  of  her  eyes,  for 
she  evidently  did  not  care  to  criticize  her  own 
people,  but  she  seemed  to  recall  something  and 
her  face  suddenly  hardened  as  she  snapped  out : 
"  The  officers  starve  ?  Well,  hardly.  They  lived 
like  dukes  always."  More  she  would  not  say, 
but  the  evidence  of  these  two  was  amply  con- 
firmed by  the  sight  of  the  sleek  well-groomed 
specimens  of  the  "  dukes  "  that  promenade  the 
streets.  While  the  soldiers  were  in  a  desperate 
plight  for  meat,  the  officers  seemed  to  have  re- 
tained their  own  thoroughbred  riding  horses 
until  the  last  day.  I  suppose  that  riding 
was  a  necessity  to  them  to  keep  in  good 
health.     The    day     before    the     surrender    they 

—  30  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

gave  these  up,  and  2,000  beautiful  horses  were 
killed,  not  for  meat  for  the  starving  soldiers  be 
it  noted,  but  that  they  might  not  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  Russians.  Perhaps  I  can  best 
illustrate  what  happened  by  quoting  the  words 
of  a  Russian  ofhcer  who  was  among  the  first 
to  enter  the  town.  ''  Everywhere,"  he  told 
me,  ''  one  saw  the  bodies  of  freshly-killed  saddle 
horses,  some  of  them  animals  that  must  have 
been  worth  many  thousand  roubles.  Around 
the  bodies  were  groups  of  Hungarian  soldiers 
tearing  at  them  with  knives;  with  hands  and 
faces  dripping  with  blood,  they  were  gorging 
themselves  on  the  raw  meat.  I  have  never  seen 
in  all  my  experience  of  war  a  more  horrible  and 
pitiable  spectacle  than  these  soldiers,  half 
crazed  with  hunger,  tearing  the  carcasses  like 
famished  wolves."  My  friend  paused  and  a 
shadow  crossed  his  kindly  face.  ''  Yes,"  he 
said,  *'  it  was  horrible.  Even  my  Cossack  orderly 
wept — and  he — ^well,  he  has  seen  much  of  war 
and  is  not  over  delicate." 

I  can  quote  the  statement  of  the  Countess 
Elizabeth  Schouvalov,  of  whom  more  anon,  as 
further  corroborative  evidence  of  conditions  exist- 
ing in  the  town.  The  Countess,  who  is  in  charge 
of  a  distribution  station  to  relieve  the  wants 
of  the  civil  population,  said  to  me :  *'  It  is  true 
that  the  people  were  starving.     Common  soldiers 

—  31  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

occasionally  fell  down  in  the  street  from  sheer 
weakness  for  want  of  food.  Some  lay  like  the 
dead  and  would  not  move.  But  their  officers  !  *' 
A  frown  passed  over  her  handsome  features. 
''  Ah  !  "  she  said,  ^'  they  are  not  like  the  Rus- 
sians. Our  officers  share  the  hardships  of  the 
men.  You  have  seen  it  yourself,"  with  a  glance 
at  me,  '*  you  know  that  one  finds  them  in  the 
trenches,  everywhere  in  uniforms  as  dirty  as 
their  soldiers,  and  living  on  almost  the  same 
rations.  A  Russian  would  never  live  in  ease 
while  his  men  starved.  I  am  proud  of  my  peo- 
ple. But  these  officers  here— they  care  nothing 
for  their  men.  You  have  seen  them  in  the 
streets.  Do  they  look  as  though  they  had  suf- 
fered ?  "  and  she  laughed  bitterly. 

I  had  not  been  above  a  few  hours  in  Przemysl 
before  it  was  quite  clear  to  me,  at  least,  that 
Przemysl  surrendered  for  lack  of  food,  and  that 
while  the  officers  were  living  luxuriously,  their 
men  were  literally  starving.  That  they  let 
them  starve  while  they  kept  their  own  pet 
saddle  horses  seems  pretty  well  established  from 
the  evidence  obtainable.  One  wonders  what 
public  opinion  would  say  of  officers  in  England, 
France  or  America  who  in  a  crisis  proved 
capable  of  such  conduct  ? 

In  my  comments  on  the  Austrian  officers  I 
must   of   course   limit   my   observations   to   the 

—  32  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

types  one  sees,  and  hears  about,  in  Przemysl. 
Out  of  3,600  officers  there  must  have  been  men 
of  whom  Austria  can  be  proud,  men  who  did 
share  their  men's  privations,  and  these,  of  course, 
are  excepted  from  the  general  observations. 

VI 

Immediately  on  reaching  the  town  we  sought 
out  the  head-quarters  of  the  new  Russian  Com- 
mandant of  the  fortress.  Over  the  door  of 
the  building,  in  large  gold  letters,  were  words 
indicating  that  the  place  had  formerly  been 
the  head-quarters  of  the  loth  Austrian  Army 
Corps.  At  the  entrance  two  stolid  Russian 
sentries  eyed  gloomily  the  constant  line  of  dap- 
per Austrian  officers  that  passed  in  and  out,  and 
who  were,  as  we  subsequently  learned,  assisting 
the  Russians  in  their  task  of  taking  over 
the  city.  General  Artimonov,  the  new  governor, 
received  us  at  once  in  the  room  that  had 
been  vacated  only  a  few  days  before  by  his 
Austrian  predecessor  General  Kusmanek.  On 
the  wall  hung  a  great  picture  of  the  Austrian 
Emperor.  The  General  placed  an  officer.  Cap- 
tain Stubatitch,  at  our  disposal,  and  with  him 
our  way  was  made  comparatively  easy.  From 
him  and  other  officers  whom  we  met,  we  gathered 
that  the  Russians  were  utterly  taken  by  sur- 
prise at  the  sudden  fall  of  the  fortress,  and  dumb- 

—  33  —  i> 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

founded  at  the  strength  of  the  garrison,  which 
none  beHeved  would  exceed  the  numbers  of 
the  Russians  investing  them;  the  general  idea 
being  that  there  were  not  over  50,000  soldiers 
at  the  disposal  of  the  Austrian  commander. 

Three  days  before  the  fall  a  sortie  was  made 
by  some  30,000  Hungarian  troops.  Why  out 
of  130,000  men  only  30,000  were  allotted  to  this 
task  in  such  a  crisis  does  not  appear.  Neither 
has  any  one  been  able  to  explain  why,  when  they 
did  start  on  their  ill-fated  excursion,  they  made 
the  attempt  in  the  direction  of  Lwow  rather 
than  to  the  south,  in  which  direction,  not  so 
very  far  away,  the  armies  of  Austria  were 
struggling  to  reach  them.  Another  remarkable 
feature  of  the  last  sorties  was,  that  the  troops 
went  to  the  attack  in  their  heavy  marching  kit. 
Probably  not  even  the  Austrians  themselves 
felt  any  surprise  that  such  a  half-hearted  and 
badly  organized  undertaking  failed  with  a  loss 
of  3,500  in  casualties  and  as  many  more  taken 
prisoners.  One  does  not  know  how  these  mat- 
ters are  regarded  in  Austria,  but  to  the  laymen 
it  would  seem  that  some  one  should  have  a  lot 
of  explaining  to  do  as  to  the  last  days  of  this 
siege.  Officers  who  have  been  over  the  ground 
state  that  in  view  of  the  vast  numbers  of  the 
garrison,  and  the  fact  that  they  were  well  sup- 
plied with  ammunition,  there  would  have  been 

—  34  — 


Russian  occupation  of  Przemysl.  Head-quarters  of  Staff. 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

great  chance  of  an  important  portion  of  the 
beleaguered  breaking  through  and  getting  clean 
away  to  the  south  ;  but  no  attempt  of  this  nature 
seems  to  have  been  made. 

The  night  before  the  surrender,  the  Austrians 
began  destroying  their  military  assets,  and  for 
two  hours  the  town  was  shaken  with  the  heavy 
explosions  of  bridges  and  war  material  of  all 
sorts.  Every  window  facing  the  San  river  was 
broken  by  the  overcharge  of  the  explosives  that 
destroyed  the  bridges.  Simultaneously  the  work 
of  destroying  the  artillery  was  going  on  in  all 
the  forts  with  such  efficiency,  that  it  is  doubt- 
ful if  the  Russians  will  get  a  single  piece 
that  can  be  used  again.  The  soldiers  even  des- 
troyed the  butts  of  their  muskets,  and  the 
authorities,  who  were  evidently  keen  on  this 
part  of  the  work,  arranged  for  tons  of  munitions 
to  be  dumped  into  the  river.  Others  were  as- 
signed to  kill  the  saddle-horses. 

By  daylight  the  task  seems  to  have  been  com- 
pleted and  negotiations  for  surrender  were  opened 
by  the  Austrians.  Our  guide,  Captain  Stubatitch, 
was  the  first  Russian  to  enter  the  town  as  a 
negotiator,  and  through  him  the  meeting  of 
ranking  officers  was  arranged — a  meeting  that 
resulted  in  the  unconditional  surrender  of  the 
fortress.  The  original  terms  agreed  on  between 
Kusmanek  and  General  Silivanov,  the  commander 

—  35  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

of  the  Russian  forces,  did  not  permit  the  Aus- 
trian officers  to  carry  their  side  arms ;  but  a 
telegram  from  the  Grand  Duke  spared  them 
the  humihation  of  giving  up  their  swords,  a 
dehcate  courtesy,  which  it  seems  to  the  writer 
was  quite  wasted  on  the  superciHous  Austrian 
officers.  In  the  first  place  there  has  been  no 
formal  entrance  of  Russian  troops,  Silivanov 
himself  not  yet  having  inspected  his  prize.  The 
first  Russians  to  enter  came  in  six  military  tour- 
ing cars  absolutely  without  any  escort,  and  went 
quietly  and  unostentatiously  to  the  head-quar- 
ters of  the  Austrian  commander  where  the  affairs 
of  the  town  were  transferred  with  as  little  fric- 
tion as  the  changing  of  the  administration  of 
one  defeated  political  party  into  the  hands  of 
its  successor.  Following  the  officials,  small  drib- 
lets of  troops  came  in  to  take  over  sentry  and 
other  military  duties,  and  then  came  the  long 
lines  of  Russian  transport  bringing  in  supplies 
for  the  half-famished  garrison.  All  told,  prob- 
ably there  have  not  been  above  a  few  thousand 
Russian  soldiers  in  Przemysl  since  its  capitula- 
tion, and  these  were  greeted  warmly  by  both 
prisoners  and  civilians.  There  has  been  no 
friction  whatever  and  everybody  seems  well 
satisfied  with  the  end  of  the  siege.  The  greatest 
task  at  first  was  the  relief  of  the  population, 
both    soldiers    and    civilians.     Countess    Schou- 

^36- 


->        *    •     •    ^     ♦        T 


if-' 


f^- 


J:i- 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

valov,  whom  I  have  mentioned  before,  came 
the  second  day  and  immediately  began  feed- 
ing the  population  from  the  depot  where  she 
organized  a  kitchen  and  service  of  distri- 
bution which  alone  takes  care  of  3,000  people 
a  day.  The  Army  authorities  arranged  for  the 
care  of  the  soldiers  and  much  of  the  civil  popu- 
lation as  well,  and  in  three  days  the  situation 
was  well  in  hand  and  practically  all  the  suffer- 
ing eliminated. 

I  have  talked  with  many  people  in  Przemysl, 
and  civilians  and  prisoners  alike  speak  of  the 
great  kindness  of  the  Russians  from  the  rank- 
ing officers  down  to  the  privates,  all  of  whom 
have  shown  every  desire  to  ameliorate  the 
distress.  The  difficulty  of  feeding  so  vast  a 
throng  necessitated  the  immediate  evacuation 
of  the  prisoners,  and  an  evacuation  office  was 
at  once  organized.  Batches  of  prisoners  started 
toward  Lwow  at  the  rate  of  about  ten  thou- 
sand a  day,  which  is  about  all  the  stations  along 
the  route  can  handle  conveniently  with  supplies. 
The  officers  are  sent  out  in  small  blocks  by  rail 
once  a  day,  and  are,  I  believe  for  the  most  part 
taken  directly  to  Kiev,  where  they  will  remain 
until  the  end  of  the  war. 

General  Kusmanek  himself  departed  the  first 
day  in  a  motor  car  to  the  head-quarters  of 
Silivanov  and  thence  with  the  bulk  of  his  staff 

—  37  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

to  Kiev.  Those  who  have  seen  him  describe 
him  as  a  youngish  man  looking  not  over 
forty,  but  in  reahty  fifty-four.  A  man  who 
saw  him  the  day  of  the  surrender  told  me  that 
he  had  accepted  the  situation  very  casually, 
and  had  seemed  neither  depressed  nor  mortified 
at  the  turn  events  had  taken.  The  ranking 
officer  left  in  Przemysl  is  General  Hubert,  for- 
merly Chief  of  Staff,  who  is  staying  on  to  facilitate 
the  transfer  of  administrations;  the  head-quar- 
ters is  filled  with  a  mixture  of  officers  and  order- 
lies of  both  armies  working  together  in  appa- 
rent harmony. 

The  fall  of  Przemysl  strikes  one  as  being  the 
rarest  thing  possible  in  war — namely  a  defeat, 
which  seems  to  please  all  parties  interested.  The 
Russians  rejoice  in  a  fortress  captured,  the 
Austrians  at  a  chance  to  eat  and  rest,  and 
the  civilians,  long  since  sick  of  the  quarrel,  at 
their  city  once  more  being  restored  to  the 
normal. 


38- 


General  Hubert,  Chief  of  Austrian  Staff  in  Przemysl. 


WARSAW  IN  APRIL,  1915 


CHAPTER   II 

WARSAW  IN  APRIL,    1915 

Dated  : 
Warsaw,  Poland, 

May  I,  1915. 

WITH  the  sunshine  and  balmy  weather  of 
the  beautiful  Polish  spring,  there  has 
come  to  Warsaw  an  optimism  and  hopefulness 
that  is  deeper  rooted  and  certainly  more  widely 
spread  than  the  feeling  of  relief  that  swept  through 
the  city  in  October  last  when  the  Germans,  after 
their  futile  effort  to  take  it,  began  their  retreat 
to  their  own  frontier.  On  that  occasion  the 
population  had  barely  time  to  get  its  breath, 
and  to  begin  to  express  some  optimism  as  to  the 
war,  when  the  news  came  that  the  Germans 
were  advancing  for  a  second  time  on  the  Polish 
capital. 

Warsaw,  as  I  have  seen  it  in  nearly  a  dozen 
visits  here  since  the  war  began,  is  a  little 
panicky  in  disposition,  perhaps  with  reason ;  and 
there  have  been  such  a  continuous  ebb  and 
flow  of  rumours  good  and  bad,  that   for  months 

—  41  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

no  one  knew  what  to  expect.  All  through 
December  and  January  one  heard  every  few 
days  that  the  Germans  would  take  the  town 
almost  any  time,  only  to  be  told  the  next  day 
that  all  chances  of  Teuton  success  were  forever 
gone.  Tales  of  German  raids,  aeroplanes,  Zeppe- 
lins on  the  way  to  destroy  the  city  were  circulated 
so  persistently,  that  perhaps  it  was  not  strange 
that  genuine  optimism  found  the  soil  of  local 
public  opinion  a  difficult  one  in  which  to  take 
root.  The  end  of  the  first  week  of  February  left 
the  public  here  greatly  encouraged,  for  had  not 
the  stupendous  German  attack  failed  on  the 
Bzura-Rawka  line  ? 

But  following  close  on  its  heels  came  the  news 
of  the  movement  in  East  Prussia  and  Russian 
retirements,  and  once  more  confidence  fled.  Later 
still  the  enemy's  advance  on  Przasnys  and  the 
threat  to  the  Petrograd- Warsaw  line  made 
conditions  even  worse.  This  was  the  low- 
water  mark.  When  the  terrific  attacks  began 
to  weaken  and  at  last  the  columns  of  the  Kaiser 
began  to  give  place,  conviction  that  the  worst 
was  over  for  Warsaw  began  to  be  felt  generally, 
until  to-day,  May  i,  I  find  a  buoyancy  and 
hopefulness  here  that  I  have  not  seen  in  any 
part  of  Russia  since  the  war  started. 

The  reasoning  of  the  people  here  is  something 
like  this.     In  the  attacks  of  January  and  Febru- 

—  42  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

ary  the  Germans  were  putting  into  the  field  the 
best  men  and  the  most  of  them  that  they  could 
lay  their  hands  on,  and  still  not  weakening  their 
position  in  the  West.  The  onslaught  on  the 
Bzura-Rawka  line  is  believed  to  have  been  one  of 
the  fiercest  efforts  that  the  Germans  up  to  that 
date  had  made  on  any  Front.  Six  corps  and,  as 
it  is  said,  600  guns  were  concentrated  on  a  short 
front  and  almost  without  interruption  they 
attacked  for  six  days.  The  net  result  was  nothing 
save  a  few  unimportant  dents  in  the  Russian  line, 
and  the  German  loss  is  placed  at  100,000  men. 
The  Russians  certainly  did  not  lose  half  that 
number,  and  some  well-informed  people  who 
have  been  on  this  Front  for  months  think  it  may 
have  been  little  more  than  a  third. 

The  East  Prussian  attack  and  its  corollary  move- 
ment against  Przasnys  raged  with  the  same  fury. 
For  nearly  a  month  Poland  was  taking  an  account 
of  stock.  Now  it  has  become  the  opinion  of  practi- 
cally every  one,  even  down  to  the  common  soldiers, 
that  the  whole  German  movement  has  proved 
an  utter  failure  and  at  a  cost  to  the  enemy  of 
not  under  200,000,  a  figure  from  two  to  three 
times  as  great  as  was  the  decrease  of  the  Russian 
forces.  Even  the  East  Prussian  retirement  which 
was  so  heralded  abroad  by  the  Germans  has 
been  gradually  shrinking,  until  now  it  is  said 
that   the   total   loss   to   the   Russians   was   only 

—  43  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

25,000  to  30,000  against  the  100,000  which  the 
Germans  claimed.  "  How  is  it  possible,''  people 
say  here,  ''  for  the  Germans  to  accomplish  some- 
thing in  May  that  they  could  not  do  in 
February  ?  "  Certainly  they  can  never  be  mate- 
rially stronger  than  they  were  when  the  first 
attack  on  the  Bzura  line  was  launched  in  the 
end  of  January,  and  the  chances  are  that  they 
are  greatly  weaker. 

The  Russians,  on  the  other  hand,  are  stronger 
now  by  a  very  great  deal  than  they  were  on 
February  ist,  and  are  getting  stronger  and 
stronger  with  every  day  that  the  war  lasts.  It 
is  probably  safe  to  say  that  there  are  25  per 
cent,  more  troops  on  this  Front  to-day  than  there 
were  when  the  Russians  threw  back  the  Germans 
two  months  ago,  and  the  feeling  that  Warsaw 
will  never  be  taken  has  become  a  conviction 
among  the  Poles.  The  rumour-mongers,  and 
there  are  hundreds  here  who  wish  evil  to  the 
Russians,  find  it  more  and  more  difficult  to 
start  scares ;  and  even  reports  of  Zeppelins  and 
air  raids  create  little  comment.  So  common  have 
bombs  become  that  the  appearance  of  aircraft 
above  the  city  creates  no  curiosity  and  very  little 
interest.  I  have  been  especially  impressed  with 
the  determination  with  which  the  Poles  are 
planning  to  combat  the  German  influence  in  the 
future.     Though   Poland   has  suffered  hideously 

—  44  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

through  this  war,  there  is  small  cry  here 
for  peace  at  any  price,  and  the  opinion  voiced 
a  few  days  ago  by  one  of  the  leading  papers 
seems  to  be  that  of  all  the  practical  and  most 
influential  men  of  the  community.  This  view 
was  that  the  war  must  be  fought  out  to  a 
decisive  issue,  and  though  Poland  must  suffer 
longer  thereby,  yet  anything  short  of  complete 
success  would  be  intolerable.  While  the  Poles 
are  still  thinking  a  great  deal  about  their  political 
future,  they  are  perhaps  more  keenly  alive  as 
to  their  industrial  and  economic  future.  As  one 
well-informed  individual  expressed  it,  "  With 
economic  and  industrial  prosperity  we  may 
later  get  all  we  want  politically.  But  without 
them  mere  political  gains  will  profit  us  little.*' 

What  the  Poles  want  most  perhaps  in  the 
final  peace  is  a  boundary  line  that  will  give 
Russia  the  mouth  of  the  Vistula  at  Danzig. 
With  an  absolute  freedom  of  trade  with  England, 
America  and  the  outside  world,' Poland  will  have 
a  prosperity  which  will  go  a  very  long  way 
toward  helping  them  to  recuperate  from  the 
terrible  blow  that  their  nation  has  received  in 
the  war.  That  this  is  serious  no  one  can  doubt. 
Conditions  within  that  portion  of  Poland  occu- 
pied by  the  enemy  are  said  to  be  deplorable 
beyond  measure.  It  is  difficult  to  know  here 
exactly  what  the  truth  is,  but  it  is  probable  that 

—  45  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

the  suffering  of  the  unfortunate  peasants,  who 
are  for  the  most  part  stripped  of  their  stock  and 
in  many  instances  without  homes,  is  very  severe. 
With  the  war  lasting  all  summer  and  no  chance 
for  a  crop,  their  plight  by  autumn  will  be  serious. 
What  is  being  done  about  putting  in  a  crop  for 
the  coming  year  is  uncertain,  but  it  is  said 
that  there  is  practically  no  seed  for  sowing, 
and  that  the  harvest  this  year  (where  there  is 
no  fighting)  will  be  very  small.  In  the  actual 
zone  of  operations  there  will  probably  be  none 
at  all. 

Reports  are  coming  from  a  dozen  different 
quarters  of  the  condition  of  the  Germans.  A 
story  from  a  source  which  in  many  months  I 
have  found  always  trustworthy  indicates  that 
the  soldiers  are  surrendering  to  the  Russians 
in  small  batches  whenever  a  favourable  oppor- 
tunity offers. 

The  reported  complaint  is  that  their  rations 
are  increasingly  short  and  that  there  is  growing 
discouragement.  There  are  dozens  of  similar 
stories  circulated  every  day.  One  does  not 
perhaps  accept  them  at  par,  but  the  great 
significance  is  that  they  are  circulating  here  now 
for  practically  the  first  time.  When  I  was  last 
in  Warsaw  I  questioned  many  prisoners  but 
never  found  one  who  would  criticize  his  own 
fare.     This    condition    seems    to    have    changed 

-46- 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

materially  in  the  past  ten  weeks.  No  one  how- 
ever must  dream  of  underestimating  the  stamina 
of  the  enemy  on  this  Front ;  for  however  one*s 
sympathy  may  go,  they  are  a  brave  and  stubborn 
foe,  and  months  may  elapse,  even  after  they  begin 
to  weaken  in  moral,  before  the  task  of  beating 
them  will  be  an  easy  one.  Their  lines  on  this 
Front  are  reported  to  be  extremely  strong,  and 
I  am  told  by  an  observer  that  they  are  employ- 
ing a  new  type  of  barbed  wire  which  is  extremely 
difficult  to  cut,  and  presents  increased  difficulty  in 
breaking  through. 

The  condition  of  the  Russians  is  infinitely 
better  than  at  any  time  since  the  war  started. 
Their  1915  levies,  which  are  just  coming  into  the 
field  now  in  great  blocks,  are  about  the  finest 
raw  fighting  material  that  one  can  find  in  Europe. 
Great,  strapping,  healthy,  good-natured  lads  who 
look  as  though  they  never  had  a  day's  sickness  in 
their  life.  I  think  I  do  not  exaggerate  when  I  say 
that  I  have  seen  nearly  100,000  of  these  new  levies 
and  I  have  yet  to  see  a  battalion  that  did  not 
exhale  high  spirits  and  enthusiasm.  They  come 
swinging  through  Warsaw,  laughing  and  sing- 
ing with  a  confidence  and  optimism  which  it 
is  hard  to  believe  possible  when  one  considers 
that  we  are  in  the  9th  month  of  the  war.  Surely 
if  the  Germans,  who  are  straining  every  effort 
now  to  raise  new  troops,  could  see  these  men 

—  47  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

that  Russia  is  pouring  into  the  field  they  would 
have  a  genuine  qualm  as  to  the  future.  And 
these  are  but  a  drop  in  the  bucket  to  what 
is  available  in  great  Russia  that  lies  behind. 
Over  here  there  will  never  be  any  lack  of  men, 
and  the  Czar  can  keep  putting  troops  just  like 
this  into  the  field  for  as  many  more  years  as  the 
war  may  last.  After  nearly  a  year  on  this  Front 
of  the  war,  one  just  begins  to  appreciate  the 
enormous  human  resources  which  Russia  has  at 
her  command  in  this  great  conflict. 

During  the  winter  there  was  a  pretty  wide- 
spread apprehension  of  conditions  which  might 
result  among  the  soldiers  when  the  spring  and 
warm  weather  came.  As  far  as  one  can  learn,  the 
authorities  have  made  a  great  effort  to  improve 
sanitary  conditions  at  the  Front,  and  there  is 
very  little  sickness  in  the  army  at  present.  Those 
who  are  in  a  position  to  know,  seem  to  feel  confi- 
dent that  such  steps  as  are  necessary  to  maintain 
the  health  of  the  men  at  a  high  standard  during 
the  summer  have  been  taken.  It  is  certain 
that  there  has  been  a  pretty  general  clean  up,  and 
that  there  is  less  disease  now,  even  with  the 
warmer  weather,  than  there  was  in  February. 

In  the  meantime,  the  Spring  has  come  and  the 
roads  are  rapidly  drying  up.  The  occasional 
rumours  .of  the  Germans  reaching  Warsaw  are 
becoming  more  and   more   rare,  and   the   gossip 


. 914 

\ 

IP 

APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

of  the  town  now  is  as  to  what  date  will  be  selected 
for  the  Russian  advance. 

The  life  of  the  city  is  absolutely  normal,  and 
I  am  told  that  the  shopkeepers  are  doing  a 
bigger  business  than  ever  before.  The  restau- 
rants are  preparing  for  their  out-of-door  cafes, 
and  the  streets  are  bright  with  the  uniforms  of 
the  Russian  soldiery.  A  German  officer  who 
came  through  here  the  other  day  (as  a  prisoner) 
could  not  believe  his  eyes.  "  Why,"  he  is  re- 
ported to  have  said  to  his  Russian  captor,  ''  we 
supposed  Warsaw  was  abandoned  by  everyone 
who  could  get  away.  But  the  town  seems  as 
usual.''  And  the  officer  was  right.  The  casual 
observer  finds  it  hard  to  realize  that  there  is  a 
line  of  battle  only  30  miles  away. 


49  — 


AN  AMERICAN  DOCTOR  IN  THE 
RUSSIAN  ARMY 


CHAPTER    III 

AN   AMERICAN   DOCTOR    IN    THE 
RUSSIAN   ARMY 

Dated  : 
Warsaw,  Poland, 

May  3,  1915. 

IT  is  a  far  cry  from  the  city  of  Seattle  in  the 
State  of  Washington,  U.S.A.,  to  the  Httle 
village  of  Sejny  in  the  Polish  government  of 
Suwalki,  but  this  is  the  jump  that  one  must  make 
to  follow  the  career  of  Dr.  Eugene  Hurd,  the 
only  American  surgeon  attached  to  the  Russian 
Red  Cross  working  in  the  field  in  this  war.  In- 
asmuch as  the  story  of  the  Doctor  is  a  good 
one  in  itself,  and  as  from  him  one  learns  not 
a  little  about  the  Field  Hospital  service  of  the 
Russians,  it  seems  quite  worth  while  to  devote 
a  chapter  to  this  very  interesting  and  useful 
individual. 

Up  to  August  last  Dr.  Hurd  was  a  practising 
surgeon  in  Seattle,  a  member  of  the  State  Legis- 
lature and  spoken  of  as  coming  Mayor  of  the 
town.  When  he  strolled  casually  into  my  room 
at  Warsaw  in  the  uniform  of  a  Russian  Colonel, 

—  53  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

who  spoke  not  a  word  of  any  language  except 
English,  I  was  naturally  somewhat  surprised. 
''  How  on  earth/'  I  asked  him,  "  do  you  happen 
to  be  in  the  Russian  Army  ?  "  Unbuckling  his 
sword  and  sprawling  his  six  feet  three  of  brawn 
and  sinew  in  an  armchair  he  began  his  story. 

''  Well,  it  was  this  way.  Fve  never  had 
much  time  to  follow  politics  in  Europe,  as 
my  time's  been  pretty  much  occupied  cut- 
ting off  legs  and  arms  and  such,  out  on  the 
Pacific  Coast.  But  my  people  have  always 
been  regular  Americans,  and  some  of  us  have 
been  in  every  war  the  U.S.A.  ever  pulled  off. 
My  great-grandfather  fought  in  the  revolution  ; 
my  grandfather  in  the  Mexican  war,  and  my 
father  in  the  Civil  and  Spanish-American 
wars.  Well,  I  was  raised  in  an  army  post,  and 
ever  since  I  was  a  kid  IVe  heard  my  father 
talk  about  how  Russia  stuck  with  us  during 
the  Civil  war.  When  things  looked  blue  and 
bad  for  the  North  she  sent  her  old  fleet  over, 
and  let  it  set  right  there  in  New  York  Harbour 
until  required,  if  needed.  During  the  war  in 
Manchuria  we  were  all  for  Russia  on  just  this 
account,  and  when  she  got  licked  Dad  and  I  both 
felt  bad.  All  right.  Well  one  day  out  in  Seattle 
I  read  in  the  paper  that  Germany  had  declared 
war  on  Russia.  I  remembered  that  business, 
back  in   the  '  Go's,'  and  what  the    Russians   did 

—  54  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

for  us,  and  I  just  said  to  myself,  '  Well,  Fm  for 
Russia  anyhow,'  and  I  sat  down  that  very  day 
and  wrote  to  the  head  of  the  medical  department 
at  Petrograd,  and  just  told  them  straight  that 
we  had  always  been  for  Russia  ever  since  that 
business  of  her  fleet,  and  that  if  I  could  serve 
her  in  this  war  I'd  come  over  even  if  I  had  to 
throw  up  my  own  practice,  which  by  the  way  is 
a  pretty  good  one. 

''  Well,  a  couple  of  months  went  by  and  I  had 
forgotten  all  about  it  when  one  day  the  Russian 
Consul  blew  into  my  ofhce  with  a  cable  from 
Petrograd,  a  bunch  of  money  in  one  hand  and  a 
ticket  over  the  Siberian  in  the  other.  So  I  just 
locked  up  my  office  and  came  right  over.  In 
Petrograd  they  ran  me  around  in  an  auto,  for 
two  days,  and  then  shipped  me  down  to  Grodno, 
where  I  got  a  Colonel's  uniform  and  went  right 
out  to  the  '  Front '  in  charge  of  a  Field  Hospital, 
where  Fve  been  now  for  three  solid  months, 
and  you're  the  first  American  I've  seen  and  you 
certainly  look  good  to  me,"  and  the  Doctor  smiled 
genially. 

I  have  got  more  information  about  the 
Russian  wounded  from  Hurd  than  any  man 
I  have  met  since  I  came  to  Russia,  and  though 
he  does  not  speak  the  language  he  sees  everything. 
He  was  at  once  placed  in  charge  of  an  outfit  of 
sixty-one  men  and  five  wagons  which  formed  a  Field 

—  55  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

Hospital.  "  I  have  my  bunch  well  organized/' 
the  doctor  said.  ''  You  see  I  handled  it 
this  way.  I  divided  all  my  outfit,  medicine 
chest,  instruments,  etc.,  so  that  they  went  into 
the  five  wagons.  Each  wagon  was  painted 
a  certain  colour  and  every  box  that  went  into 
that  wagon  had  a  band  of  the  same  colour  around 
it  and  a  number.  I  had  a  man  for  each  box 
and  each  knew  exactly  what  to  do.  I  can  halt 
on  the  march  and  my  men  are  so  well  trained 
now  that  I  can  commence  operating  in  ten 
minutes  after  we  make  a  stop.  I  can  quit  work 
and  be  packed  up  and  on  the  march  again  in 
twenty.  I  like  these  fellows  over  here  fine,  and 
when  I  once  get  them  properly  broken  in,  they 
work  splendidly.''  [The  Field  Hospital  to  which 
he  was  attached  was  up  in  the  rear  of  the  Rus- 
sian lines  all  during  the  recent  fighting  in  East 
Prussia.]  ''  I  never  worked  so  hard  in  my  life," 
he  continued.  ''  One  day  I  had  375  men  come 
to  my  table  between  sunset  and  morning  and 
I  was  working  steadily  until  the  next  night, 
making  twenty-three  hours  without  intermission. 
It  was  a  tough  job  because  every  little  while  we 
had  to  pull  up  stakes  and  move  off  to  the  rear 
with  our  wounded.  That  made  it  hard  for  us 
and  difficult  to  do  real  good  work." 

The  work   and   experience   with   the    Russian 
wounded   have   given   this    American   doctor    a 

-56- 


The  Emperor  with  his  Staff. 


Russian  nurses  attend  to  the  feeding  of  the  soldiers. 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

remarkable  insight  into  the  character  of  the 
peasant  soldier.  ''  These  moujik  chaps/'  he 
assured  me,  ''  never  make  a  complaint.  I 
never  saw  anything  like  it.  Sometimes  they 
groan  a  little  when  you're  digging  for  a  bullet, 
but  once  off  the  table  and  in  the  straw  (we 
are  without  beds  as  we  move  too  fast  for 
that)  a  whole  barnful  will  be  as  quiet  as  though 
the  place  was  empty ;  one  German,  on  the  other 
hand,  will  holler  his  head  off  and  keep  the  whole 
place  awake.  The  Russians  never  complain, 
and  everything  you  do  for  them  they  appreciate 
remarkably.  I  do  a  lot  of  doctoring  for  the 
villagers,  and  every  day  there's  a  line  a  block 
long  waiting  to  get  some  '  American  '  dope,  and 
they're  so  grateful  it  makes  you  feel  ashamed. 
Everybody  wants  to  kiss  your  hands.  I  tried 
putting  my  hands  behind  me,  but  those  that  were 
behind  were  just  as  bad  as  those  in  front.  Now 
I've  given  up  and  just  let  them  kiss." 

The  vitality  of  the  Russian  soldier  is  amaz- 
ing according  to  the  evidence  of  this  ob- 
server. With  the  exception  of  wounds  in  the 
heart,  spine  or  big  arteries  there  is  nothing 
that  must  certainly  prove  fatal.  Many  head 
wounds  that  seem  incredibly  dangerous  recover. 
'*  I  had  one  case,"  he  told  me,  ''  which  I  never 
would  have  believed.  The  soldier  walked  into 
my   hospital    with  a    bullet    through    his   head. 

—  57  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

It  had  come  out  just  above  his  left  ear  and  I 
had  to  dissect  away  part  of  the  brain  that  was 
lying  on.  the  ear.  Well,  that  fellow  talked  all 
through  the  dressing  and  walked  out  of  the 
hospital.  I  sent  him  to  the  rear  and  I  have 
no  doubt  that  he  recovered  absolutely.'' 

In  the  hundreds  of  cases  operated  on  not  a  single 
death  occurred  on  the  operating  table  and  not 
one  lung  wound  proved  fatal.  Many  of  the 
abdominal  wounds  of  the  worst  type  make  ulti- 
mate recoveries,  and  it  was  the  opinion  of  the 
surgeon  that  not  above  five  to  ten  per  cent,  of 
the  patients  who  reached  the  first  dressing 
stations  died  later  from  the  effects  of  their 
wounds.  That  the  war  was  very  popular  among 
the  common  soldiers  was  the  conclusion  that 
my  friend  had  reached.  "  The  old  men  with 
families  don't  care  much  for  it,"  he  added,  ''  but 
that  is  because  they  are  always  worrying  about 
their  families  at  home,  but  the  young  fellows 
are  keen  for  it,  anxious  to  get  to  the  '  Front  ' 
when  they  first  come  out,  and  eager  to  get  back 
to  it  even  after  they  have  been  wounded.  Some 
of  them  as  a  matter  of  fact  go  back  several  times 
after  being  in  the  hospital." 

In  discussing  the  comparative  merits  of 
the  Germans  and  Russians,  it  was ,  his  opinion 
that  though  the  Germans  were  better  rifle  shots, 
they    could    not    compare    with    the     Russians 

-58- 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

when  it  came  to  the  bayonet.  ''  When  these 
moujiks,"  said  the  doctor,  ''  chmb  out  of  their 
trenches  and  begin  to  sing  their  national  songs, 
they  just  go  crazy  and  they  aren't  scared  of 
anything ;  and  beUeve  me,  when  the  Germans 
see  them  coming  across  the  fields  bellowing 
these  songs  of  theirs,  they  just  don't  wait  one 
minute,  but  dig  right  out  across  the  landscape 
as  fast  as  they  can  tear.  I  don't  think  there's 
a  soldier  in  the  world  that  has  anything  on  the 
Russian  private  for  bravery.  They  are  a  stub- 
born lot  too,  and  will  sit  in  trenches  in  all  weathers 
and  be  just  as  cheerful  under  one  condition  as 
another.  One  big  advantage  over  here,  as  I 
regard  it,  is  the  good  relations  between  the  sol- 
diers and  the  officers." 

One  extremely  significant  statement  as  to  the 
German  losses  in  the  East  Prussian  movement  was 
made  by  this  American  surgeon.  The  church  and 
convent  where  his  hospital  is  located  were  pre- 
viously used  for  the  same  purposes  by  the  Ger- 
mans. According  to  the  statement  of  the  priest 
who  was  there  during  their  occupation,  10,500 
German  wounded  were  handled  in  that  one 
village  in  a  period  of  six  weeks  and  one  day. 
From  this  number  of  wounded  in  one  village 
may  be  estimated  what  the  loss  to  the  enemy 
must  have  been  during  the  entire  campaign  on 
the  East  Prussian  Front. 

—  59  — 


GENERAL  RUSSKY'S  SUCCESSOR 


CHAPTER    IV 

GENERAL    RUSSKY'S    SUCCESSOR 

Dated  : 
-Warsaw,  Russia, 

May  10,  1915. 

THE  two  most  simple  personalities  that  I 
have  met  in  this  war  are  the  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas,  and  the  Commander  who  has  come  to 
the  Northern  Armies  to  take  up  the  post  made 
vacant  by  the  retirement  of  General  Russky. 
Certain  business  relating  to  desired  freedom  of 
movement  in  the  zone  of  operations  took  the 
writer  to  the  head-quarters  of  General  Alexieff, 
which  is  situated  in  a  place  not  very  far  away. 
Without  giving  away  any  figures  it  is  per- 
haps safe  to  say  that  the  command  of  General 
Alexieff  is  twice  the  size  of  that  now  under 
Field-Marshal  Sir  John  French  on  the  con- 
tinent. The  territory  occupied  by  the  armies 
commanded  by  him  covers  an  enormous  area,  and 
probably  up  to  this  war  there  has  been  no  single 
individual  in  the  history  of  the  world  with  such 
a  vast  military  organization  as  that  over  which 

-63- 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

General  Alexieff  presides  as  supreme  dictator,  sub- 
ject only  to  the  Grand  Duke  himself.  The  whole 
aspect  of  the  headquarters  of  which  he  is  the  pre- 
siding genius  is,  in  atmosphere,  the  last  word  in 
the  modern  idea  of  a  commanding  general's  place 
of  abode.  The  town  in  which  he  is  living  is 
perhaps  a  model  one  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  gentlemen  who  write  the  textbooks  and 
sketch  the  details  of  the  programme  and  course 
which  should  be  adopted  by  military  chiefs. 
The  theory  in  the  Japanese  Army  was  that  the 
brains  of  the  army  should  be  so  far  away  from 
the  actual  scene  of  operations,  that  the  officer 
would  be  absolutely  detached  from  the  atmosphere 
of  war ;  and  that  between  himself  and  the  Front 
there  should  be  installed  so  many  nervous  shock 
absorbers  that  the  office  of  the  great  chief  him- 
self should  be  the  realm  of  pure  reason  with 
no  noise  nor  excitement  nor  hurrying  aides  to 
impair  his  judgment. 

I  recall  a  conversation  I  once  had  with  Major 
(now  Lt. -General)  Tanaka,  Oyama's  personal 
A.D.C.  ''  I  should  have  liked  to  have  been 
with  the  General  Staff,*'  I  remarked  to  him, 
*'  during  the  Battle  of  Moukden.  It  must  have 
been  an  exciting  time  with  you."  My  friend 
laughed  and  answered,  ''  You  would  have  had 
a  great  surprise,  I  imagine.  There  was  no  ex- 
citement at  all.     How   do  you  suppose   Oyama 

_  64  - 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

and  his  staff  spent  much  of  their  time  during 
the  battle  ?  ''  One  naturally  imagined  that  it 
was  spent  scrutinizing  maps  and  making  plans, 
and  I  said  this  to  Tanaka.  ''  Not  at  all/'  he 
replied,  ''when  the  battle  began,  our  work  was 
largely  finished.  It  was  but  necessary  to  make 
an  occasional  change  in  the  line  here  and  there, 
and  this  too,  for  only  a  few  minutes  of  the  time 
of  the  Field-Marshal.  Most  of  the  time  he  and 
Kodame  (Chief  of  General  Staff)  were  playing 
croquet.'' 

Much  the  same  atmosphere  of  detachment 
from  the  activities  of  the  campaign  may  be  seen 
to-day  in  the  little  Polish  city  where  Alexieff 
has  his  head-quarters,  except  that  no  one  here  has 
time  for  croquet.  It  is  a  safe  venture  that 
outside  of  his  own  staff  there  are  not  fifty  sol- 
diers in  the  whole  town.  It  is  in  fact  less  military 
in  appearance  than  any  city  I  have  ever  seen 
since  I  have  have  been  in  Russia.  In  front  of 
his  office  are  a  couple  of  soldiers,  and  a  small 
Russian  flag  hangs  over  the  door.  Nothing 
outside  would  lead  one  to  beheve  that  within  is 
the  man  in  the  palm  of  whose  hand  lies  the  fate 
and  movements  of  hundreds  upon  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  men,  and  at  whose  word  a 
thousand  guns  will  spread  death  and  destruc- 
tion. In  trenches  miles  away,  stretching  through 
forest  and  along  hilltops,  numberless  regiments 

—  65  —  F 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

and  brigades  await  the  curt  order  from  this 
building  to  launch  themselves  against  the  German 
lines. 

The  man  himself  is  as  quiet  and  unobtrusive 
as  are  his  surroundings.  Perhaps  fifty-eight 
or  fifty-nine  in  years  with  a  very  intellectual 
face  and  an  almost  shy  manner,  is  Alexieff,  the 
man  whom  current  gossip  credits  with  the  keenest 
brain  in  the  Russian  field  armies.  As  Ivanov's 
Chief  of  Staff,  he  is  said  to  have  been  a  great 
factor  in  the  planning  and  the  execution  of  much 
of  the  Galician  campaign,  and  those  who  know 
him  well,  believe  that  under  his  direction  great 
things  will  be  accomplished  in  Poland.  The 
General  is  very  quiet  and  retiring,  and  from  a 
very  brief  observation  one  would  say  that  he 
was  primarily  a  man  of  strategy,  more  at  home 
solving  the  intellectual  problems  of  a  campaign 
than  in  working  out  tactical  puzzles  in  the  field. 

The  staff  of  the  quiet  unostentatious  Russian 
who  is  commanding  this  enormous  front  consists 
of  about  seventy-five  members  (about  the  same 
number  as  Kusmanek  of  Przemysl  fame  had  on 
his  personal  staff  for  the  defence  of  the  city), 
and  taken  as  a  whole,  they  are  most  serious  and 
hard-working  men,  if  their  looks  do  not  be- 
lie them.  '*  You  would  be  surprised,"  an  A.D.C. 
informed  me,  ''  to  know  the  enormous  amount 
of  work  that  we  all  get  through  here.     There 

—  66  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

is  a  lull  on  this  front  now,  and  it  is  comparatively 
an  easy  time,  but  in  spite  of  that  fact  we  are  all 
of  us  busy  from  morning  until  night.  When 
there  is  a  movement  under  way  we  do  not  get 
any  rest  even  at  nights."  One  comes  from  War- 
saw where  rumours  are  flying  thick  and  fast 
as  to  German  advances  and  Russian  mishaps, 
to  find  everything  serene  and  calm  and  the 
general  opinion  of  the  staff  one  of  great  op- 
timism. For  the  moment  the  Russians  are  in 
the  trough  of  the  sea,  as  it  were,  and  all  of 
the  late  news  from  Galicia  is  not  particularly 
favourable  ;  but  if  the  attitude  of  the  staff  is 
any  criterion,  the  situation  is  not  felt  to  be  of  a 
critical  nature,  and  for  the  first  time  in  months 
one  hears  officers  expressing  the  opinion  that 
the  war  will  end  this  year. 

There  is  a  tendency  to  welcome  the  German 
impetuosity  of  attack,  for  each  fresh  irruption 
means  a  weakening  of  the  enemy.  The  Russian 
theory  is  that  Russia  can  stand  the  losses,  large 
as  they  are,  almost  indefinitely,  and  that  she  is 
willing  to  take  the  burden  of  breaking  the  Ger- 
man wave  again  and  again  if  need  be,  knowing 
that  each  assault  of  the  enemy  is  bringing  them 
nearer  and  nearer  to  the  end  of  their  tether. 
Since  the  latest  irruption  into  Galicia  we  hear 
less  talk  of  a  Russian  advance  in  the  near  future, 
but  certainly  not  a  sign  of  discouragement  in 

-67- 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

any  of  the  high  quarters.  One  may  well  believe 
that  this  last  outburst  was  not  anticipated,  but 
the  Russians  over  on  this  side  are  as  ready  to 
''  play  "  the  fish  now  as  they  were  when  the  war  first 
started.  It  was  hoped  after  the  January-February 
attacks,  that  the  enemy  was  exhausted  and  the 
time  was  in  sight  when  the  gaff  might  be  of  use. 
Now  the  fish  has  taken  another  spurt,  and  the 
Russians  are  letting  out  the  line  again  and 
are  prepared  to  let  it  have  another  fling  in 
their  waters.  But  they  believe  none  the  less 
that  the  enemy  is  firmly  hooked,  and  that  it  is 
merely  a  question  of  time  when  from  sheer  ex- 
haustion he  will  tire  and  they  may  begin  to  drive 
home  their  own  attacks. 

The  Russian  attitude  is  very  philosophical, 
and  though  a  people  who  are  temperamentally 
not  without  a  vein  of  melancholy,  they  take 
this  war  with  much  more  equanimity  than  one 
could  have  imagined  possible.  Retreats  and 
shifting  of  lines  no  longer  create  panics  over  here. 
People  are  sorry.  They  had  hoped  that  the 
Germans  were  nearer  the  point  of  exhaustion, 
but  there  is  not  the  slightest  indication  of  dis- 
couragement. Probably  their  attitude  is  due 
primarily  to  the  fact  that  they  had  never  anti- 
cipated an  easy  victory  nor  a  short  war.  They 
knew  from  the  start  that  they  were  in  for  a 
terrific  ordeal,  and  what  goes  on  day  after  day, 

—  68  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

with  its  ebbs  and  its  floods,  is  merely  a  matter 
of  the  day*s  work  with  them.  They  have  seen 
again  and  again  the  irruptions  of  the  Germans 
gradually  absorbed  by  their  troops,  and  each 
set  back  now  is  accepted  as  only  temporary. 
The  movement  of  the  Germans  in  Courland 
has  hardly  made  any  impression  at  all  in 
Russia  generally,  if  the  reports  one  hears  are 
true. 

The  Russians  had  practically  no  troops  in  that 
province,  which  itself  offered  no  great  strategic 
advantage  to  the  Germans.  Taking  advantage 
of  this  weak  spot,  the  Germans  with  a  number  of 
corps — it  is  placed  as  high  as  three — poured  into 
the  almost  unprotected  country. 

The  Russians  say  that  the  German  motive  is 
first  that  they  would  be  able  to  announce  to  their 
people  that  they  had  occupied  enemy  terri- 
tory, and  second  that  the  rich  province  would 
give  them  certain  much  needed  supplies.  For 
a  day  or  two  the  progress  seems  to  have  been 
almost  without  interruption,  but  now  we  hear 
that  it  has  been  checked  and  that  the  enemy 
are  gradually  giving  way  before  the  Russians, 
who  have  shifted  troops  to  that  front  to  prevent 
further  advances.  The  occupation  of  Libau  does 
not  seem  to  worry  any  one  very  much.  ''  What 
good  will  it  do  them  ?  "  one  Russian  officer  said 
to   me  ?     ''No   doubt   they   will   fortify   it   and 

-69^ 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

make  it  as  strong  as  possible.  Probably  we  will 
never  try  to  get  it  back  while  the  war  lasts. 
Why  should  we  ?  It  is  of  no  great  value  strate- 
gically, and  it  is  not  worth  the  price  of  lives  and 
troops  detached  from  other  points  to  retake  it 
When  we  have  won,  it  will  naturally  come  back 
to  us  without  our  having  to  spend  a  single  extra 
life  in  getting  it.'* 

The  situation  in  Galicia  is  still  something  of 
a  puzzle,  but  those  in  authority  do  not  seem 
to  be  taking  it  over  seriously.  There  is  reason 
to  believe  that  it  is  a  repetition  of  what  has 
occurred  again  and  again  on  this  and  other 
fronts.  The  Germans,  by  means  of  their  superior 
rail  facilities  made  a  sudden  concentration  and 
hit  the  Russian  line  with  such  energy  as  to  force 
its  retirement.  Each  mile  of  the  Russian  retreat 
has  strengthened  their  army  by  the  additions  of 
reserves,  while  it  has  probably  seen  an  increasing 
weakening  of  the  enemies'.  The  sudden  advance 
of  the  enemy  has  forced  the  withdrawal  of  the 
Russians  pushing  through  the  Dukla,  who  were 
obviously  menaced  in  their  communications. 
I  am  told  now  that  the  German  attacks  have 
already  passed  their  zenith,  and  that  the  Russians 
reinforced  by  new  troops  are  confident  of  check- 
ing any  further  advance.  Over  here  it  is  but  a 
question  of  breaking  the  first  fury  of  the  attack. 
When  that  is  done  we  can  count  on  the  Russian 

—  70  — 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

muoujik  slowly  but  surely  to  force  his  way  back 
over  the  lost  ground.  The  end  of  the  incident 
sees  the  Russians  stronger  and  the  Germans 
weaker.  It  is  futile  for  any  one  to  attempt  to 
estimate  how  many  more  of  these  irruptions 
the  Germans  are  capable  of,  but  we  are  certain 
that  be  it  this  summer  or  next  there  is  a  limit 
to  them.  When  that  limit  has  been  reached  the 
Russian  advance  will  begin. 


71  — 


CHECKING  UP  THE  SITUATION  IN 
POLAND 


CHAPTER  V 

CHECKING    UP    THE    SITUATION    IN 
POLAND 

Dated : 
Warsaw, 
May  24,  1915. 

A  FEW  weeks  ago  the  writer  expressed  the 
opinion  that  a  permanent  optimism  had 
come  to  Warsaw.  For  several  weeks  this  im- 
pression seemed  to  have  every  justification  in 
fact,  but  since  the  commencement  of  the  Gah- 
cian  movement  in  the  south  the  confidence  felt 
by  the  saner  members  of  the  community  has 
been  utterly  submerged  by  the  pessimism  which 
in  waves  has  swept  over  the  town.  One  finds 
it  impossible  to  know  definitely  from  what  exact 
quarters  all  the  false  stories  start,  and  if  one 
tries  to  run  them  down  the  trail  speedily  van- 
ishes. The  explanation  is  that  the  Jews  in 
Poland  are  so  unfriendly  to  Russian  interests 
and  Russian  successes,  that  the  slightest  set- 
back, or  rumour  of  bad  news,  is  seized  on  by 
them,  and  in  a  few  hours  is  spread  all  over  the 

—  75  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

town,  exaggerated  grossly  with  every  telling.  It 
is  really  extraordinary,  after  ten  months  of  war, 
how  persistent  these  hostile  factions  are  in  their 
hope  of  German  success.  There  are,  besides 
the  Jews,  probably  many  Austrian  agents,  who 
use  the  slightest  pretext  to  start  stories  in  the 
hope  of  creating  a  panic. 

Within  the  last  two  weeks  every  imaginable 
tale  has  been  current.  Last  week  there  was  so 
much  vagueness  in  regard  to  the  news  coming 
up  from  the  south  of  Poland,  that  it  seemed 
wise  to  make  a  quick  tour  in  the  rear  of  the 
Russian  positions  in  order  to  get  some  opinion 
of  the  real  situation.  The  collection  of  war 
news  falls  very  definitely  into  two  classes,  de- 
scriptive writing  and  material  which  is  merely 
indicative  of  the  situation  as  a  whole.  The 
former  is  of  course  more  interesting  to  the 
average  reader,  but  the  latter  is  far  more 
important  from  every  other  angle.  After  ten 
months  of  war,  the  vital  question  now  is 
whether  the  Germans  are  advancing  or  re- 
tiring, and  not  so  much  how  the  battles 
themselves  are  conducted,  or  what  sort  of  a 
picture  is  presented  in  the  different  actions. 
So_my  trip  of  yesterday,  though  not  in  the  least 
picturesque  in  its  happenings,  was  extremely 
interesting  in  that  it  offered  an  emphatic  con- 
tradiction to  practically  every  adverse  rumour 
-  76- 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

that  had  gained  currency  in  Warsaw  for  the  week 
previously. 

We  left  Warsaw  at  six  in  the  morning  in  our 
racing  car,  and  as  soon  as  we  were  clear  of  the 
town  and  headed  in  the  direction  of  Radom, 
on  the  fine  macadam  highway,  we  were  able 
to  develop  a  speed  that  no  express  train  in 
Russia  has  made  since  the  declaration  of  war. 
This  highway  has  been  the  artery  of  travel  and 
communication  over  which  ammunition,  trans- 
port and  guns  have  moved  almost  without  in- 
terruption for  ten  months.  That  the  Russians 
have  kept  it  in  good  condition,  is  apparent  from 
the  fact  that  we  were  able  to  make  above  65 
versts  an  hour  on  many  stretches  of  the  way.  I 
passed  over  the  same  road  many  times  during  the 
first  months  of  the  war,  and  its  condition  now 
is  infinitely  better  than  it  was  in  those  days. 

On  every  hand  are  evidences  of  increased 
Russian  efiiciency.  The  war  now  has  become 
strictly  a  matter  of  organization,  and  every- 
thing goes  on  now  without  excitement  and 
without  confusion  of  any  sort.  Road  gangs 
have  been  organized,  and  these  highways 
are  maintained  with  as  much  care  as  the  per- 
manent way  of  a  railway  line.  One  sign  of  the 
times  is  the  new  departure  of  the  Russian  authori- 
ties, in  building  at  intervals  of  about  every 
5  versts  a  boiled   water  station,  which  is  distin- 

—  n  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

guished  by  a  special  flag.  Here  in  a  shed  closed 
on  three  sides  is  a  great  boiler  with  numerous 
taps  on  it.  When  troops  are  passing  in  any 
quantities  the  water  is  kept  hot  that  the  sol- 
diers may  always  get  boiling  water  for  their 
tea.  When  there  is  small  movement  on  the 
road,  they  can  always  get  it  cold  for  drinking 
purposes. 

As  it  was  Sunday  we  found  the  road  prac- 
tically free  of  transport.  Barring  occasional 
soldiers  sauntering  along  the  highway  there 
was  no  sign  of  war  until  we  were  within 
a  few  miles  of  Radom,  when,  perhaps  20 
versts  to  the  west,  columns  of  smoke,  drifting 
lazily  off  in  the  still  air,  indicated  where  some 
German  battery  had  been  shelling  some  unfor- 
tunate village.  Away  off  on  the  horizon  a  few 
faint  puffs  of  white  in  the  blue  showed  where 
our  batteries  were  breaking  shrapnel  under  a 
speck  of  an  aeroplane,  which  had  evidently  been 
on  a  morning  tour  of  inspection.  I  was  rather 
curious  to  see  Radom,  because  for  a  week  we 
had  been  told  in  Warsaw  that  a  terrible  panic 
prevailed  here,  and  that  the  population  were 
leaving  in  a  frenzy  of  terror  to  avoid  the  sweep 
of  the  Germans  on  Warsaw,  that  same  old  story 
which  has  for  so  many  months  been  circulated 
by  the  Jewish  population.  But  Radom  itself 
was  as  quiet  and  casual  as  a  city  of  the  same 

-78-> 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

size  in  far  off  America  might  have  been  on  a 
Sunday  morning.  The  streets  were  crowded 
with  the  population  in  their  best  clothes  going 
to  church,  and  the  panic  so  widely  discussed 
in  Warsaw  was  conspicuous  by  its  absence. 

I  talked  with  a  number  of  the  townspeople,  and 
they  were  as  surprised  as  they  could  be  to  know 
that  they  were  all  (according  to  Warsaw)  in 
full  flight  for  the  other  side  of  the  Vistula.  What 
astonishes  one  most  is  the  absolute  lack  of  in- 
formation in  one  place  of  what  is  going  on  in 
the  next  town.  Kielce  is  but  30  miles  from 
Radom,  yet  I  could  find  no  one,  neither  officer 
nor  civilian,  who  could  say  positively  whether 
on  this  particular  day  it  was  in  our  hands  or 
in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  We  did  learn  how- 
ever from  an  officer  that  the  road  had  been  badly 
cut  up,  and  that  fighting  had  taken  place  near 
Kielce,  with  destruction  of  bridges,  which  would 
make  it  impossible  for  us  to  get  there  in  a  car. 
As  a  fact,  I  learned  later  in  the  day  that  the 
road  for  perhaps  15  versts  north  of  Kielce 
was  held  by  German  cavalry,  and  so  was  just 
as  well  satisfied  that  we  had  not  gone  that 
way. 

Radom  I  found  was  outside  the  army  group 
which  I  had  a  special  permit  to  visit,  and  it 
was  therefore  necessary  to  call  on  the  General 
commanding  the  army  before  I  could  with  pro- 

—  79  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

priety  pay  a  visit  to  any  of  the  corps  comman- 
ders in  this  theatre  of  war.  It  was  necessary, 
therefore,  to  motor  to  a  certain  point  east  of 
the  Vistula  to  pay  our  respects  to  this  gentle- 
man. Well  on  in  the  afternoon  we  motored  into  the 
beautiful  grounds  of  a  Polish  villa  and  spent 
several  hours  with  one  of  the  men  who,  with  a 
number  of  corps,  was  able  to  contribute  an  im- 
portant part  to  the  defeat  of  the  Austrians  on 
the  Grodek  line  in  the  fall  of  last  year.  Here 
we  were  cordially  received  both  by  the  General 
and  by  his  staff,  two  of  whom  at  once  ordered 
refreshments  for  us  and  remained  with  us  until 
we  started  back  for  Warsaw  late  in  the  day. 

From  this  point  we  were  in  touch  with  the 
sources  of  information  flowing  in  from  both  South- 
ern Poland  and  the  great  battlefield  in  Gahcia. 
All  the  Russian  corps  in  Poland,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  one  that  lay  next  the  Vistula,  had 
been  inactive  during  the  past  weeks,  and  after 
shifting  their  position  to  the  new  line,  made 
necessary  by  the  retirement  of  the  GaHcian 
army,  had  been  ordered  to  remain  strictly  on 
the  defensive.  The  corps  lying  next  the  Vistula, 
however,  was  only  across  the  river  from  the  great 
action  going  on  south  of  them,  and  after  days 
of  listening  to  the  roar  of  their  brothers'  cannon 
to  the  south,  they  were  in  anything  but  a  placid 
or  quiet  mood.     The  whole  line,  in  fact,  was  figur- 

--  80  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

atively  being  held  on  the  leash,  but  this  last 
corps  had  been  so  infected  by  the  contagion  of 
the  action  to  the  south  that  it  proved  very  diffi- 
cult to  keep  the  units  in  their  trenches.  At 
the  first  feeler  of  the  German  advance,  which 
came  up  on  their  side  of  the  Vistula,  they  at 
once  jumped  at  the  conclusion  that  the  best 
defensive  was  a  'strong  attack,  and  with  this 
idea  in  mind  they  considered,  no  doubt,  that 
they  were  strictly  in  accord  with  their  defen- 
sive orders  when  they  attacked  the  Germans. 

The  ball  was  started,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  by 
a  cavalry  colonel  who,  with  a  small  command, 
attacked  a  pontoon  bridge  train  that,  in  some 
incredible  way,  was  poking  along  in  advance 
with  only  a  meagre  escort.  The  advance  of 
this  small  unit  of  horsemen  served  as  a  spark 
in  the  Russian  powder  magazine,  and  within 
a  few  hours  the  whole  corps  was  engaged  in  an 
attack  on  the  German  infantry.  It  is  hard  to 
get  any  accurate  details  of  the  operations,  but 
this  fighting  lasted  probably  two  to  three  days. 
The  ardent  Russian  regiments  fell  on  the  centre 
of  a  German  formation,  which  was  said  to  be 
the  46th  Landsturm  corps,  smashed  its  centre 
and  dissipated  its  flanking  supports  of  a  division 
each.  The  Russians  claim  that  12,000  were 
left  on  the  field  and  that  they  took  6,000  pris- 
oners. In  any  case  there  is  no  question  that 
—  81  —  ■   G 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

this  action  put  out  at  least  one  corps  from  fur- 
ther activity  as  an  efficient  unit. 

The  German  prisoners  captured  expressed  them- 
selves as  greatly  surprised  at  the  Russians  attacking 
them.  They  had  been  told  that  the  Russians  had 
all  crossed  the  Vistula  and  were  in  rapid  retreat 
to  the  west,  and  that  the  probabilities  were  that 
the  road  to  Moscow  would  be  open  in  a  few  weeks. 
From  various  members  of  the  Russian  Staff 
I  obtained  many  details  as  to  the  fighting  in 
Galicia,  which  all  agreed  had  been  terrific  but 
was  going  extremely  well  for  them  on  the  line 
of  the  San  river.  It  is  too  soon  to  attempt  a 
detailed  account  of  this  action,  but  it  will  form 
one  of  the  greatest  stories  of  the  whole  war  when 
the  returns  are  all  in.  Suffice  it  to  say  that 
the  Russians  had  been  aware  of  the  impending 
attack  for  several  weeks,  and  had  been  prepar- 
ing, in  case  of  necessity,  a  retirement  on  to  a 
position  upon  the  San  river  with  Przemysl  as 
the    salient    thereof. 

This  Russian  retreat  did  not  come  as  a  sur- 
prise even  to  the  writer.  As  far  back  as  a 
month  ago  he  was  aware  of  feverish  activi- 
ties in  rehabilitating  the  Przemysl  defences, 
and  though  at  that  time  the  object  was  vague, 
it  became  clear  enough  when  this  crisis  broke 
that  the  Russians  had  foreseen  the  possibility 
of  the  failure  to  hold  the  Dunajec  line.  The 
—  82  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

Germans  carried  this  by  a  concentration  of 
artillery  fire,  probably  greater  even  than  that 
of  the  English  guns  at  Neuve  Chapelle.  So 
fierce  was  this  torrent  of  flying  steel  that  the 
Russian  line  was  eaten  away  in  the  centre,  and 
in  the  Carpathian  flank,  and  there  seems  reason 
to  believe  that  the  army  on  the  Dunajec  was 
cut  in  three  sections  when  it  began  to  retire. 
That  it  pulled  itself  together  and  has  been  able 
to  hold  itself  intact  on  the  San  up  to  the  time 
of  this  writing  is  evidence  of  the  resiliency  of 
the  Russian  organization. 

The  Russians  having  had  the  alternative  in 
view,  withdrew  with  great  speed,  destroying 
bridges  and  approaches  in  order  to  delay  the 
Germans.  In  the  meantime  both  their  reserves 
of  men  and  munitions  were  being  pushed  up 
to  await  them  on  the  San  line.  When  the 
Germans  came  up  in  strength  with  their  tongues 
hanging  out,  and  their  formations  suffering  from 
lack  of  rest  and  lack  of  ammunition,  they  found 
the  Russian  line  waiting  for  them.  It  is  futile 
to  estimate  the  German  losses  at  this  time,  but 
they  will  be  in  the  hundreds  of  thousands,  and 
a  final  count  will  show  them  to  be  at  least  two 
to  three  times  greater  than  the  Russian  sacri- 
fices. A  German  prisoner  is  said  to  have  made 
the  complaint  that  the  Russians  fought  like 
barbarians.     "  Had  they  been  civilized  people,'' 

-83- 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

he  is  reported  to  have  said,  "  they  would  have 
stayed  on  the  Dunajec  and  fought  hke  men. 
In  that  case  we  would  have  utterly  destroyed 
their  army/'  Instead  of  that  they  went  away 
and  fought  on  the  San.  What  seems  to  have  hap- 
pened is  that  the  Germans  were  not  actually 
short  of  ammunition,  but  in  extending  their  line 
to  the  San  they  could  not  bring  it  up  with  the 
same  rapidity  as  in  the  Dunajec  and  Carpathian 
attacks  ;  the  result  was  that  they  were  unable 
to  feed  their  guns  according  to  their  new  ar- 
tillery programme  begun  on  the  Dunajec  line, 
a  programme  no  doubt  borrowed  from  the  west. 


84 


A  VISIT  TO  THE  POSITIONS 


CHAPTER  VI 

A   VISIT   TO   THE    POSITIONS 

From  : 
Somewhere  on  the    Rawka  Line, 
May  25,  1915. 

DURING  the  comparative  lull  on  the  Bzura- 
Rawka-Pilitza  line  I  have  been  trying 
to  go  about  to  certain  important  salients  on 
our  front  and  have  a  look  both  at  the  terrain, 
and  the  positions  which  we  are  defending. 

Leaving  Warsaw  by  motor  we  ran  out  to  the 
head-quarters  of  a  certain  army  where  we  found 
the  General  living  in  the  palace  of  a  Polish  noble. 
Beautiful  avenues  of  trees  gave  access  to  a  won- 
derful garden  with  a  little  lake  before  an  old 
mansion  dating  back  to  the  eighteenth  century. 
Here  in  the  quiet  seclusion  of  a  little  forest  lives 
the  general,  who  presides  over  the  destinies  of  per- 
haps 150,000  men.  We  are  received  cordially  by 
the  Chief  of  Staff  who,  with  exemplary  patience, 
reads  over  the  twelve  permits  of  various  sorts 
which  complete  the  constantly  growing  collection  of 
authorizations  for  me  to  come  and  go  on  this 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

front.  After  careful  scrutiny  of  all  he  sighs 
heavily,  for  perhaps  he  is  not  an  admirer  of  the 
press,  but  none  the  less  he  inquires  cordially 
what  we  would  like  to  do.  ''  Heavy  batteries 
and  observation  points  "  is  always  my  reply  for 
reasons  already  explained.  A  smart  young  aide 
is  sent  for  who,  it  appears,  speaks  English  fluently, 
having  lived  for  some  time  in  America.  The 
staff  offer  us  an  additional  automobile,  and  while 
this  is  being  brought  round  we  sit  out  under 
the  trees  in  the  garden.  Just  behind  the  house, 
in  a  bower,  is  another  officer  of  the  staff  sitting 
in  an  easy-chair  behind  a  table  before  which 
stand  a  group  of  Austrian  prisoners  whom  he 
is  examining  for  information.  After  a  few  min- 
utes our  young  aide  comes  back,  and  with  two 
automobiles  we  start  for  the  positions. 

We  must  first  go  to  the  head-quarters  of  an 
army  corps.  This  is  distant  25  versts,  and 
as  the  roads  are  for  the  most  part  short  cuts 
across  the  fields,  it  takes  us  more  than  an  hour 
to  reach  a  very  unpretentious  village  where  we 
meet  the  General  commanding  the  —  Corps. 
This  man  is  distinctly  of  the  type  that  war  pro- 
duces. He  was  only  a  minor  general  when  the 
war  started,  but  efficiency  in  action  has  given 
him  two  promotions.  Shabby  and  war-worn 
he  is  Hving  in  a  mere  hovel,  still  wearing  the 
uniform  and  shoulder  straps  of  two  grades  back 

—  88  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

when  he  was  a  somewhat  humble  officer  in  the 
artillery.  By  him  we  are  supplied  with  a  soldier 
guide  and  go  off  to  the  head-quarters  of  an 
artillery  brigade  where  we  find  the  commander 
of  the  guns  who  provides  us  with  a  member  of 
his  staff.  This  officer  joins  our  party,  and  directs 
us  to  the  head-quarters  of  an  artillery  unit 
composed  of  a  number  of  batteries.  I  say  unit 
because  ,it  is  all  controlled  from  one  point  of 
observation. 

By  the  time  we  pull  up  between  a  couple  of 
ruined  peasants'  homes,  only  the  walls  of  which 
are  standing;  it  is  after  seven  in  the  evening. 
From  a  kind  of  cave  among  the  debris 
there  emerged  three  or  four  tired-looking 
artillerymen  who  are  in  charge  of  the  guns  in 
these  positions.  The  country  here  is  flat  and 
rolling,  with  a  little  ridge  to  the  west  of  us,  which 
cuts  off  the  view  into  the  valley  beyond,  in  which 
are  the  lines  of  the  Russian  and  German  trenches. 
Leaving  our  automobiles  in  the  road,  we  stroll 
through  a  wheat-field  toward  the  ridge,  distant 
perhaps  i,ooo  yards.  In  the  corner  of  the 
field  is  a  hedge,  and  behind  the  hedge  is  a 
battery  of  field  guns.  One  notices  with  each 
passing  month  the  increasing  cleverness  of  the 
Russians  in  masking  their  batteries.  Though 
this  is  no  wood,  we  walk  almost  on  to  the  posi- 
tion before  we  discover  the  guns  at  all.     They 

-89-- 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

are  well  dug  in,  with  small  fir  trees  borrowed 
from  neighbouring  bits  of  woodland  stuck  in 
the  ground  all  about  them.  Each  gun  is  sepa- 
rated from  its  brother  by  a  screen  of  green,  and 
boughs  above  mask  the  view  from  an  aeroplane. 
From  the  front  one  would  never  see  them  at  all 
unless  one  were  looking  closely.  To-night  the 
last  red  rays  from  the  setting  sun  just  catch 
a  twinkle  of  the  steel  in  their  shining  throats, 
as  their  long  sleek  snouts  protrude  from  the 
foliage.  The  shields  are  painted  a  kind  of  green 
which  helps  still  more  to  make  them  invisible. 
This  particular  battery,  so  its  Colonel  tells  us, 
has  had  a  great  laugh  on  the  enemy  during  the 
past  few  days.  What  happened  was  this.  A 
German  Taube  flew  over  the  line  several  times, 
and  it  kept  coming  back  so  frequently  and  hover- 
ing over  the  battery,  that  the  officers  who  were 
watching  it  became  suspicious  that  they  had 
been  spotted.  When  darkness  fell  the  entire 
personnel  of  the  battery  became  extremely  busy, 
and  by  working  like  bees  they  moved  their  guns 
perhaps  600  yards  to  the  south  and  by  daylight 
had  them  in  the  new  positions  and  fairly  well 
masked.  Shortly  after  sunrise  back  came  the 
aeroplane,  and  when  over  the  old  position  it 
gave  a  signal  to  its  own  lines  and  then  flew  back. 
Almost  instantly  hell  broke  loose  on  the  aban- 
doned spot.     In   walking   over   the   ground   one 

—  90  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

is  amazed  at  the  accuracy  of  long  range  artillery 
fire,  for  in  the  ten-acre  lot  in  which  the  old  posi- 
tion was  the  centre  there  was  hardly  ten  square 
yards  without  its  shell  hole,  while  the  ground 
was  a  junk  heap  of  steel  and  shrapnel  fragments. 
Six  hundred  yards  away  the  men  of  the  battery 
watched  it  all  and  laughed  their  sides  out  at  the 
way  they  had  fooled  the  Germans.  This  par- 
ticular battery  had  bothered  the  enemy  a  great 
deal  and  they  were  on  the  look  out  for  it. 
Probably  there  will  be  further  competitions  of  wits 
before  the  week  is  out.  From  glancing  at  the 
field  torn  up  with  shell  fire  one  begins  to  realize 
what  observation  means  to  the  enemy.  With 
modern  methods  a  single  signal  from  an  aero- 
plane may  mean  the  wiping  out  in  a  few  minutes 
of  an  unsuspecting  battery  that  has  been  safely 
hidden  for  months. 

Leaving  the  guns,  we  saunter  across  the  wheat- 
field  toward  the  ridge,  the  great  red  ball  of  the 
setting  sun  dazzling  our  eyes  with  its  aspect 
of  molten  steel.  On  the  very  crest  of  the  roll- 
ing ground  is  a  grove  of  stunted  firs,  and  through 
this  lies  a  path  to  the  observation  trench  which 
is  entered  by  an  approach  growing  gradually 
deeper  until,  cutting  through  the  very  ridge,  it 
ends  in  the  observation  trench  dug  out  of  the 
earth  on  the  western  slope.  For  the  last  couple 
of  hundred  yards  before  we  enter  the  approaches, 

—  91  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

we  are  in  plain  view  of  the  German  gunners, 
but  we  had  supposed  that  at  the  distance  a  few 
men  would  not  be  noticed.  Evidently,  how- 
ever, our  observers  in  the  German  line  have 
had  their  eyes  glued  on  this  spot,  for  we  had 
barely  entered  the  trench  when  a  shell  burst 
down  in  front  of  us.  The  writer  was  looking 
through  the  hyperscope  at  the  time,  but  imagined 
that  it  was  at  least  half  a  mile  away.  An  instant 
later  came  the  melancholy  wail  of  another  shell 
over  our  heads  and  the  report  of  its  explosion 
half  way  between  us  and  our  motor-car  in  the 
road.  Behind  it  came  another  and  another 
each  one  getting  nearer  our  trench.  The  last 
one  passed  a  few  feet  over  our  heads  and  burst 
just  beyond,  covering  us  in  the  trench  with  dust  and 
filling  our  nostrils  with  the  fumes  of  gunpowder. 
Another  shortening  up  of  the  range  might  have 
landed  in  our  delightful  retreat,  but  evidently 
the  Germans  became  discouraged,  for  we  heard 
nothing  more  from  them. 

Through  the  hyperscopes  one  could  look  out  over 
the  beautiful  sweep  of  the  valley  studded  with  httle 
farms,  the  homes  of  which  are  mostly  in  ruins. 
This  point  from  which  we  were  studying  the  land- 
scape was  only  loo  yards  from  our  own  Hne  of 
trenches,  which  lay  just  in  front  of  and  below  us, 
while  not  more  than  75  yards  beyond  were  the 
line  of  the  German  trenches.     So  clear  were  they 

—  92  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

in  the  field  of  the  hyperscope  that  one  could 
actually  see  the  loopholes  in  the  ridge  of  earth. 
Our  own  were,  of  course,  open  from  the  back,  and 
one  could  see  the  soldiers  moving  about  in  their 
quarters  or  squatting  comfortably  against  the 
walls  of  the  trenches.  Away  to  the  west  were 
ridges  of  earth  here  and  there,  where  our  friends 
of  the  artillery  told  us  were  reserve  trenches, 
while  they  pointed  out  groves  of  trees  or  ruined 
villages  in  which  they  suspected  lurked  the  Ger- 
man guns. 

After  the  report  of  the  shells  had  died 
away  and  the  dust  settled  there  was  the 
silence  of  absolute  peace  and  serenity  over  the 
whole  valley.  Not  a  rifle  shot  or  a  human  noise 
broke  the  beautiful  calm  of  the  May  sunset. 
Off  to  the  west  glimmered  the  silver  stream  of 
the  Rawka.  To  look  out  over  this  lovely 
valley  in  the  falling  twilight  it  seemed  in- 
credible that  thousands  of  men  lay  concealed 
under  our  very  eyes,  men  who  were  waiting 
only  a  favourable  opportunity  to  leap  out  of 
their  trenches  and  meet  each  other  in  hand-to- 
hand  combat.  On  the  advice  of  our  guides,  we 
waited  in  our  secure  little  trench  until  the  last 
red  rays  of  the  sun  were  cut  off  by  the  horizon 
in  the  west,  when  we  returned  by  the  way  we 
had  come  to  the  waiting  automobiles. 

The  whole  valley  in  this  section  is  very  flat,  and 
—  93  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

the  ridges  such  as  the  one  I  have  described  are  very 
scarce.  The  Russian  Hues  are  extremely  strong, 
and  one  gets  the  idea  that  they  would  require 
a  good  deal  of  taking  before  the  Germans  could 
occupy  them.  Our  artillery  seemed  to  be  in 
excellent  quantities,  and  the  ammunition  situa- 
tion satisfactory  if  the  officer  may  be  believed. 
The  rears  of  all  these  positions  have  been  pre- 
pared for  defence,  and  there  are  at  least  three 
lines  or  groups  of  trenches  lying  between  this 
front  and  Warsaw,  each  of  which  would  present 
as  strong  a  defence  as  the  line  which  now  for 
many  months  has  defied  all  efforts  of  the  enemy 
to  get  through. 

I  was  especially  interested  in  looking  over 
this  locality,  because  in  Warsaw  it  has  been 
mentioned  as  a  point  where  the  Russians  were 
in  great  danger,  and  where  they  were  barely 
able  to  hold  their  own.  The  truth  is  that 
there  has  been  little  fighting  here  for  months 
excepting  an  occasional  burst  of  artillery,  or  now 
and  then  a  spasm  of  inter-trench  fighting  be- 
tween unimportant  units.  I  told  our  guide  of 
the  dismal  stories  we  heard,  and  he  only  laughed 
as  he  pointed  out  to  me  a  level  stretch  of  coun- 
try on  our  side  of  the  ridge.  A  number  of  young 
Russian  officers  were  riding  about  on  prancing 
horses.  "  See  there,"  my  friend  told  me,  ''  we 
have  laid  out  a  race  course,  and  the  day  after 

—  94  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

to-morrow  the  officers  of  this  brigade  are  going 
to  have  a  steeplechase.  You  see  they  have 
built  a  little  platform  for  the  general  to  stand 
on  and  judge  the  events.  We  are  only  i,ooo 
yards  here  from  the  trenches  of  the  enemy.  So 
you  see  we  do  not  feel  as  anxious  about  the  safety 
of  our  position  as  they  do  in  Warsaw."  He 
lighted  a  cigarette  and  then  added  seriously : 
"  No,  the  Germans  cannot  force  us  here,  nor  do 
I  think  on  any  of  the  other  Warsaw  fronts.  Our 
positions  have  never  been  as  strong  as  they  are 
to-day.'' 

A  few  minutes  later  we  were  in  our  motors 
speeding  through  the  twilight  to  the  village  in 
our  rear  where  the  Chief  of  Staff  of  the  —  Corps 
had  arranged  quarters  for  us. 


95 


A  SUMMER  DAY  ON  THE  RAWKA 
LINE 


CHAPTER  VII 

A    SUMMER   DAY    ON   THE    RAWKA 
LINE 

From  : 
A  Certain  Army  Corps  Head-quarters 
Not  Far  from  the  Rawka. 

May  26,  1915. 

THE  month  of  May  in  Poland,  if  this  season 
is  typical  of  the  climate  here,  is  a  period 
to  dream  about.  When  we  turned  out  of  our 
camp  beds  early  this  morning,  the  sun  was  stream- 
ing into  our  little  whitewashed  room,  while  the 
fragrance  of  lilacs  blooming  in  a  near-by  garden 
drifted  in  at  the  open  window.  In  the  little 
garden  behind  our  house  are  a  dozen  colonies 
of  bees,  and  already  they  are  up  and  about  their 
daily  tasks.  The  sky  is  without  a  cloud  and 
the  warmth  and  life  of  the  early  spring  morning 
makes  one  forget  the  terrible  business  that  we 
are  engaged  in.  The  little  street  of  the  town 
is  lined  with  great  horse-chestnut  trees  now 
in  full  bloom  with  every  branch  laden  deep 
with  the  great  white  pendent  blossoms.  For  a 
—  99  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

moment  one  stands  drinking  in  the  beauty  of 
the  new  day  and  the  loveHness  of  the  morning, 
with  one's  mind  drifting  far,  far  away  to  other 
scenes  where  flowers  too  are  blooming  at  this 
season  of  the  year.  But  as  our  eyes  wander 
down  the  street,  the  thoughts  of  gentler  things 
are  suddenly  dissipated,  and  with  a  jolt  one's 
mind  comes  back  to  the  work-a-day  world  whose 
daily  task  now  is  the  destruction  of  an  enemy 
in  the  line  of  trenches  not  so  many  miles 
away. 

What  has  broken  the  peaceful  tremor  of  our 
thoughts  is  the  sight  of  some  soldiers  pulling 
into  the  town  a  half-wrecked  aeroplane  brought 
down  by  artillery  fire  the  day  before  near  our 
lines.  Its  wings  are  shattered  and  its  propellers 
twisted  into  kindling,  while  its  slight  body  (if  one 
can  use  that  expression)  is  torn  and  punctured 
by  a  score  or  more  of  shrapnel  holes,  with  several 
gashes  where  bits  of  the  shell  case  had  penetrated 
the  thin  metal  frame.  Here  at  least  is  one  ex- 
ample of  artillery  practice  which  has  been  able 
to  cripple  the  bird  of  ill  omen  on  the  wing.  After 
a  generous  breakfast,  provided  by  our  kind  host 
the  General,  we  are  in  our  motor-cars  again 
and  in  a  few  minutes  are  speeding  down  one 
of  the  roads  westward  to  the  head-quarters  of 
a  certain  artillery  brigade  who  over  the  tele- 
phone   have    consented    to    show    us    particular 

—  100  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

choice  sights  that  they  have  on  exhibition  on 
their  front. 

Every  village  that  we  pass  through  is  full 
of  soldiers  bestirring  for  the  day,  while  already 
the  main  arteries  of  travel  to  the  trenches  are 
filling  up  with  the  activities  of  the  morning. 
It  is  a  perfectly  still  day,  and  with  each  advanc- 
ing hour  it  is  growing  hotter.  There  has  been 
no  rain  for  a  week  or  two,  the  dust  is  deep  upon 
the  roads,  and  as  our  cars  hum  along  the  high- 
ways we  leave  volumes  of  the  thin  cloud  in  our 
wake.  Now  and  again  we  pass  small  columns 
of  infantry  marching  cheerfully  along  in  the 
sunshine,  each  man  in  a  cloud  of  dust.  Yet 
every  face  is  cheerful,  and  almost  without  ex- 
ception the  men  are  singing  their  marching 
songs  as  they  swing  along  the  highways.  In 
the  villages  and  on  the  road  everything  suggests 
war,  but  now  with  quite  a  different  atmosphere 
from  that  of  last  autumn.  Then  it  was  war 
also,  but  of  war  the  novelty,  the  new  and  the 
untried.  Then  all  faces  were  anxious,  some 
apprehensive,  some  depressed.  They  were  going 
into  a  new  experience.  Now,  however,  it  is  war 
as  a  tried  and  experienced  profession  that  is 
about  us. 

The  conduct  of  the  campaign  has  become  as 
much  of  a  business  to  the  soldiers  and  to  the 
officers  as   the  operating  of  a  railroad  to  men 

—  lOI  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

engaged  in  running  it.  The  deaths  and  the  wounds 
have  become  to  these  men  we  see  now  simply  a 
part  of  their  profession,  and  they  have  seen  so 
much  of  this  side  of  the  business  that  it  has 
long  since  been  discounted.  The  whole  atmo- 
sphere of  the  front  as  we  see  it  in  May  is  as  that 
of  a  permanent  state  of  society.  These  men 
look  as  though  they  had  been  fighting  for  ten 
years  and  expected  to  be  fighting  for  the  rest 
of  their  days.  War  has  become  the  common- 
place and  peace  seems  the  unreality. 

At  brigade  head-quarters  we  halt  a  few  minutes 
and  are  directed  to  proceed  slowly  along  a 
certain  road,  and  advised  to  stop  in  a  cut  just 
before  passing  over  a  certain  crest.  When  we 
learn  that  the  enemy's  guns  command  the  road 
over  the  crest  we  inquire  with  the  keenest  interest 
the  exact  location  of  the  ridge  mentioned, 
for  something  suggests  to  us  that  this  is  a  bit 
of  interesting  information  that  the  artillery 
officer  is  handing  out  to  us  so  very  casually. 
They  are  all  casual  by  the  way ;  probably  they 
have  all  got  so  used  to  sudden  death  and  de- 
struction that  they  feel  as  nonchalant  about  their 
own  fate  as  they  do  about  others.  Half  an 
hour's  run  over  very  heavy  and  sandy  road, 
brought  us  on  to  a  great  white  ribbon  of  a  high- 
way that  ran  due  west  and  dipped  over  the 
ridge. 

—   102  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

This  was  our  place,  and  stopping  the  cars  we 
climbed  out  to  meet  a  few  officers  sauntering 
down  the  road.  They  seemed  to  be  coming 
from  nowhere  in  particular,  but  as  I  learned 
later,  they  lived  in  a  kind  of  cave  dug  out  of 
the  side  of  the  road,  and  had  been  advised  by 
telephone  that  we  were  coming  and  so  were  on 
the  lookout  for  us.  The  ranking  officer  was  a 
colonel  of  artillery — one  of  the  kind  that  you 
would  turn  about  in  the  street  to  look  at  and  to 
say  to  yourself,  "  Every  inch  a  soldier.''  A 
serious,  kindly-faced  man  in  a  dirty  uniform 
with  shoulder  straps  so  faded  and  frayed  that 
a  second  look  was  necessary  to  get  his  rank  at 
all.  For  six  months  he  had  been  living  in  just 
such  quarters  as  the  cave  in  the  side  of  the  road 
where  we  found  him.  He  was  glad  to  show  us 
his  observation.  One  could  see  at  a  glance 
that  his  whole  heart  and  soul  were  wrapped  up 
in  his  three  batteries,  and  he  spoke  of  all  his 
positions  and  his  observation  points  with  as 
much  pride  as  a  mother  speaking  about  her 
children. 

The  country  here  is  a  great  sweeping  expanse, 
with  just  a  few  ridges  here  and  there  like  the 
one  that  we  have  come  up  behind.  The  country 
reminds  one  of  the  valley  of  the  Danube  or  per- 
haps the  Red  River  Valley  in  North  Dakota, 
except  that  the  latter  has  less  timber  in  it. 
—  103  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

We  are  ourselves  quite  uncertain  as  to  where 
the  enemy's  position  is,  for  in  the  sweep  of  the 
valley  there  is  little  to  indicate  the  presence 
of  any  army  at  all,  or  to  suggest  the  possibility 
of  hostilities  from  any  quarter.  I  asked  one 
of  the  officers  who  strolled  along  with  us  where 
the  German  lines  were.  *'  Oh,  over  there,"  he 
remarked,  casually  waving  his  hand  in  a  northerly 
direction.  ''  Probably  they  can  see  us  then," 
I  suggested.  Personally  I  felt  a  mild  curiosity 
in  the  subject  which  apparently  my  companion 
did  not  share.  He  stopped  and  offered  me  a 
cigarette,  and  as  he  lighted  one  himself,  he  mur- 
mured indifferently,  "  Yes,  I  dare  say  they  could 
see  us  if  they  turned  their  glasses  on  this  ridge. 
But  probably  they  won't.  Can  I  give  you  a 
light  ?  " 

I  thanked  him  politely  and  also  commended 
the  sun  for  shining  in  the  enemy's  eyes  in- 
stead of  over  their  shoulders  as  happened  last 
night  when  the  observer  in  the  German  battery 
spotted  us  at  6,000  yards  and  sent  five  shells 
to  tell  us  that  we  were  receiving  his  highest 
consideration.  On  the  top  of  a  near-by  hill  was 
a  small  building  which  had  formerly  been  the 
Russian  observation  point,  but  the  Germans 
suspecting  this  had  quickly  reduced  it  to  a  pile 
of  ruins.  Near  by  we  entered  a  trench  cut  in 
from  the  back  of  the  hill,  and  worked  our  way 
—  104  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

up  to  an  observation  station  cut  out  of  the  side 
of  the  slope  in  front  of  the  former  position. 

It  was  now  getting  on  toward  noon  and  in- 
tensely hot.  The  view  from  this  position  as 
one  could  sweep  it  with  the  hyperscope  was  per- 
fectly beautiful.  Off  to  the  west  twinkled  the 
silver  ribbon  of  the  Rawka,  while  the  whole  plain 
was  dotted  with  fields  of  wheat  and  rye  that 
stretched  below  us  like  a  chess  board.  Here 
and  there  where  had  been  houses  were  now  but 
piles  of  ruins.  The  lines  here  were  quite  far 
apart — ^perhaps  half  a  mile,  and  in  between  them 
were  acres  of  land  under  cultivation.  I  think 
that  the  most  remarkable  thing  that  I  have 
seen  in  this  war  was  the  sight  of  peasants  work- 
ing between  the  lines  as  calmly  as  though  no 
such  thing  as  war  existed.  Through  the  glasses 
I  could  distinctly  see  one  old  white  beard  with 
a  horse  ploughing  up  a  field,  and  even  as  I  was 
looking  at  him  I  saw  a  shell  burst  not  half  a 
mile  beyond  him  near  one  of  the  German  posi- 
tions. I  mentioned  it  to  one  of  the  officers. 
*'  Oh  yes,'*  he  said,  ''  neither  we  nor  the  Ger- 
mans fire  on  the  peasants  nowadays.  They 
must  do  their  work  and  they  harm  neither  of 
us." 

On  this  part  of  the  line  the  war  seems  to 
have  become  rather  a  listless  affair  and  per- 
functory to  say  the  least.  I  suppose  both  Ger- 
—  105  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

mans  and  Russians  have  instructions  just  now 
to  hold  themselves  on  the  defensive.  At  any 
rate  I  could  distinctly  see  movements  beyond 
the  German  line,  and  I  am  sure  they  too  must 
have  detected  the  same  on  our  side.  One  man 
on  a  white  horse  was  clearly  visible  as  he  rode 
along  behind  the  German  trenches,  while  I  fol- 
lowed with  my  glasses  a  German  motor-car 
that  sped  down  a  road  leaving  in  its  wake  a 
cloud  of  dust.  Yet  no  one  bothered  much  about 
either  of  them.  Now  and  again  one  of  our  big 
guns  behind  us  would  thunder,  and  over  our 
heads  we  could  hear  the  diminishing  wail  of  a 
15-centimetre  shell  as  it  sped  on  its  journey  to 
the  German  lines.  Through  the  hyperscope  one 
could  clearly  see  the  clouds  of  dirt  and  dust 
thrown  up  by  the  explosion.  One  of  these  shells 
fell  squarely  in  one  of  the  German  trenches, 
and  as  the  smoke  drifted  away  I  could  not 
help  wondering  how  many  poor  wretches  had 
been  torn  by  its  fragments.  After  watching 
this  performance  for  an  hour  or  more,  we  returned 
back  through  the  trench  and  paid  a  visit  to  the 
Colonel  in  his  abode  in  the  earth  by  the  roadside. 
For  half  an  hour  or  more  we  chatted  with  him 
and  then  bade  him  good-bye. 

A  bit  to  the  south-west  of  us  lay  a  town  which 
a  few  days   ago   was    shelled  by   the   Germans. 
This  town  lies  in  a  salient  of  our  line,  and  since 
—  106  — 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

the  bombardment  has  been  abandoned  by  all  the 
population.  As  it  lay  on  the  German  side  of 
the  slope  we  had  three  miles  of  exposed  road- 
way to  cover  to  get  to  it,  and  another  three  miles 
in  view  of  the  German  line  to  get  out  of  it. 

As  we  sped  down  this  three  miles  one  felt  a 
certain  satisfaction  that  one  had  a  95  horse- 
power Napier  capable  of  doing  80  miles  an 
hour.  A  third  of  the  town  itself  was  destroyed 
by  the  German  shell  fire.  The  rest  was  like  a 
city  of  the  dead.  Not  a  human  being  of  the 
population  was  to  be  seen  in  the  streets,  which 
but  a  week  ago  were  swarming  with  people. 
Here  and  there  a  soldier  from  the  near-by  posi- 
tions lounged  on  an  abandoned  doorstep,  or 
napped  peacefully  under  one  of  the  trees  in 
the  square.  The  sun  of  noon  looked  down 
upon  a  deserted  village,  if  one  does  not 
count  an  occasional  dog  prowling  about,  or  one 
white  kitty  sitting  calmly  on  a  window  ledge  in 
the  sunshine  casually  washing  her  face.  As  ruins 
have  long  ceased  to  attract  us,  we  did  not  loiter 
long  here,  but  turned  eastward  along  the  great  white 
road  that  led  back  in  the  direction  of  Warsaw. 

There  is  one  strip  of  this  road  which  I  sup- 
pose is  not  more  than  4,500  yards  from  the 
German  gun  positions.  Personally  I  am  always 
interested  in  these  matters,  and  being  of  an 
inquiring  turn   of  mind  I  asked   my  friend  the 

—  107  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

Russian  officer,  who  was  with  me  in  the 
car,  if  he  thought  the  enemy  could  see  us. 
**0h  yes/'  he  repUed  quite  cheerfully.  *'I  am 
sure  they  can  see  us,  but  I  don't  think  they 
can  hit  us.  Probably  they  won't  try,  as  they 
are  not  wasting  ammunition  as  much  as  they 
used  to.  Won't  you  have  a  cigarette  ? "  I 
accepted  the  smoke  gladly  and  concluded  that 
it  is  the  Russian  custom  to  offer  one  a  cigarette 
every  time  one  asks  this  question  about  the 
German  guns.  Anyway,  I  got  exactly  the  same 
reply  from  this  man  as  I  did  from  the  other  in 
the  morning. 

Ten  miles  up  the  road  we  came  on  a  bit  of 
forest  where  the  unfortunate  villagers  who  had 
been  driven  out  by  shell  fire  were  camping.  Here 
they  were  in  the  wood  living  in  rude  lean-to's, 
surrounded  by  all  their  worldly  possessions  that 
they  had  the  means  of  getting  away.  Cows, 
ducks,  pigs,  and  chicken  roamed  about  the  for- 
ests, while  dozens  of  children  played  about  in 
the  dust. 

One  picture  I  shall  not  forget.  Before  a  hut 
made  of  straw  and  branches  of  trees  a  mother 
had  constructed  a  rude  oven  in  the  earth  by 
setting  on  some  stones  the  steel  top  of  the  kit- 
chen stove  that  she  had  brought  with  her.  Kneel- 
ing over  the  fire  she  was  preparing  the  primitive 
noonday  meal.  Just  behind  was  a  cradle  in 
—  io8  — 


..'.  c  I  ^4  ?*t  *'«/;: 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

which  lay  a  few  weeks'  old  baby  rocked  by  a 
little  sister  of  four.  Three  other  little  children 
stood  expectantly  around  the  fire,  their  little 
mouths  watering  for  the  crude  meal  that  was 
in  preparation.  Behind  the  cradle  lay  the  family 
cow,  her  soft  brown  eyes  gazing  mournfully 
at  the  cradle  as  she  chewed  reflectively  at  her 
cud.  In  the  door  of  the  miserable  little  shelter 
stretched  a  great  fat  sow  sleeping  sweetly  with 
her  lips  twitching  nervously  in  her  sleep.  An 
old  hen  with  a  dozen  chicks  was  clucking  to  her 
little  brood  within  the  open  end  of  the  hut.  This 
was  all  that  war  had  left  of  one  home. 

A  hundred  yards  away  a  gang  of  labourers 
was  digging  in  the  forest.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
the  mother  looks  nervously  from  her  fire  at 
their  work.  Perhaps  she  wonders  what  they 
are  about.  We  know.  It  is  another  line  of 
trenches.  From  what  we  have  seen  of  the  front 
line  we  believe  they  will  not  be  needed,  but  it 
is  not  strange  that  these  poor  fugitives  look  on 
with  anxious  eyes  with  the  question  written  large 
on  every  face.  Probably  to  them  the  war  seems 
something  from  which  they  cannot  escape.  They 
came  to  this  wood  for  safety  and  now  again 
they  see  more  digging  of  trenches  going  on. 

Another  hour  on  the  road  brings  us  back  to 
the  head-quarters  of  the  army  and  our  day  in 
May  is  over. 

—  109  — 


THE  CHANGE  OF  FRONT  IN  POLAND 
AND  THE  BATTLE  OF  OPATOV 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE   CHANGE    OF   FRONT    IN    POLAND 
AND  THE  BATTLE  OF  OPATOV 

Dated  : 
QpATov,  Poland, 

May  31,  1915. 

FOR  the  last  three  days  I  have  been  with 
a  certain  army  of  the  Russians  that  occu- 
pies the  strip  of  Poland  between  the  Pilitza 
river  and  the  Vistula  on  the  south.  I  feel  intense 
regret  that  the  restrictions  of  the  censor  pro- 
scribe the  identification  of  military  units  or 
of  their  definite  location.  These  wonderful  corps, 
divisions  and  battalions  should,  in  my  view, 
have  all  the  honour  that  is  their  due,  but  the 
writer  can  only  abide  by  the  wishes  of  the 
authorities  by  whose  kindness  and  courtesy  he 
has  been  able  to  visit  these  positions. 

Leaving  Warsaw  in  a  motor  car  in  the  even- 
ing, and  running  until  an  early  hour  in  the 
morning,  we  found  ourselves  the  next  day  at 
the  head-quarters  of  one  of  the  really  great 
army  commanders  of  Russia.  With  him  and 
—  113  —  I 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

the  members  of  his  staff  we  spent  the  chief 
part  of  the  morning,  when  every  opportunity 
was  given  us  to  study  the  situation  within  his 
jurisdiction.  To  go  to  the  Front,  as  I  have  often 
written  before,  means  a  two  to  three  days*  trip, 
and  the  inspection  of  a  single  detail  of  the  vast 
operations  that  have  been  conducted.  At  the 
suggestion  of  the  Commander  we  decided  to 
visit  a  certain  army  corps  in  the  south,  whose 
success  in  the  operations  attending  the  change 
of  front  had  been  so  extraordinary,  that  every- 
one at  the  staff  was  filled  with  pride  and  eager 
to  have  its  work  appreciated.  Before  going 
on  to  describe  the  work  of  this  particular  corps 
it  is  proper  to  mention  a  little  more  parti- 
cularly the  work  of  this  one  army  as  a  whole 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war. 

This  army  stood  before  Lublin  during  the  crisis 
in  the  early  days  of  the  war,  and  by  uniting 
with  that  of  Pie  vie,  and  the  two  joining  with 
Russky  to  the  east  of  them,  there  resulted  the 
first  great  crash  to  the  Austrian  arms  in  Galicia. 
Later,  this  same  army  came  back  north  and  was 
engaged  in  the  terrific  fighting  around  Ivan- 
gorod,  which  resulted  in  the  defeat  of  the  enemy 
and  their  expulsion  from  Poland  last  autumn. 

In  the  advance  after  the  taking  back  of  Radom 
and  Kielce,  the  army  came  under  the  very 
walls  of  Cracow,  and  in  all  of  its  divisions  and 
—  114  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

brigades  there  was  scarcely  a  battalion  that  did 
not  distinguish  itself  in  that  terrific  fighting. 
When  the  Germans  began  their  second  invasion 
of  Poland  last  autumn,  this  army  regretfully 
fell  back  to  its  positions  on  the  Nida  river,  and 
when  the  last  storm  broke  in  Galicia  and  the 
retirement  of  the  army  of  the  Dunajec  rendered 
a  change  of  the  Russian-Polish  line  a  strategic 
necessity,  the  army  with  all  its  numerous  corps 
was  again  called  upon  to  fall  back  in  order  that 
the  Front  as  a  whole  might  be  a  symmetrical  one. 
During  this  change  of  front  we  heard  a  great 
deal  in  Warsaw,  from  people  who  delight  in 
circulating  false  stories,  of  Russian  disasters 
in  Southern  Poland.  I  have  been  particularly 
interested,  therefore,  in  checking  up  this  move- 
ment on  the  ground  and  getting  at  the  actual 
facts  of  the  case.  As  a  fact,  the  Russian  retire- 
ment was  made  amid  the  lamentations  and 
grumbling  of  the  whole  army.  The  private 
soldiers,  who  do  not  follow  strategy  very  closely, 
complained  bitterly  that  they,  who  had  never 
met  defeat,  and  before  whom  the  enemy  had 
always  fallen  back  when  they  attacked,  should 
be  called  upon  to  retreat  when  they  were  sure, 
regiment  by  regiment,  that  they  could  beat 
twice  their  numbers  of  the  enemy.  The  Ger- 
mans and  Austrians  advanced  with  great 
caution  for  several  days.  Knowing,  however, 
—  115  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

the  location  of  the  new  Russian  Hne,  they 
imagined  that  their  adversaries  would  fall  back 
on  it  in  a  few  big  marches  and  await  them  there. 
Besides  this,  both  Germans  and  Austrians  had 
been  carefully  fed  with  reports  of  the  Galician 
movement  to  the  effect  that  the  Russians  were 
retiring  in  utter  defeat,  that  even  in  Poland 
they  were  panic-stricken  and  would  probably 
put  up  but  a  feeble  fight  even  on  their  line. 

I  could  not  in  the  brief  time  which  I  had  for 
this  trip  visit  all  the  corps  involved  in  this  move- 
ment, and  at  the  suggestion  of  the  General  of  the 
army,  visited  only  the  —  corps,  whose  operations 
may  be  regarded  as  typical  of  the  whole  spirit 
in  which  this  front  was  changed.  Regarding 
the  movement  as  a  whole  it  is  sufficient  to  say 
that  in  the  two  weeks  following  the  change  of 
line  in  Poland,  the  corps  comprising  this  one 
army  made  the  enemy  suffer  losses,  in  killed, 
wounded  and  prisoners,  which  the  General  esti- 
mated at  nearly  30,000,  of  whom  about  9,000 
were  prisoners.  All  of  this  was  done  at  a  com- 
paratively trifling  loss  to  the  Russians  them- 
selves. From  which  very  brief  summary  of 
the  change  of  front  it  will  be  realized  that  this 
particular  army  has  neither  lost  its  fighting 
spirit  nor  has  its  moral  suffered  from  the 
retirement  to  another  line. 

There  are  so  many  big  movements  in  this  war 
—  116  — 


^.>.  v>  ,    ''  ^7-<^^' 


> 
o 

a 

o 

CS 

a> 

C 

a> 
J3 
u 
C 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

that  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  one  observer 
to  describe  more  than  a  trifling  fraction  of  the 
achievements  that  are  made  here.  Since  the 
General  Staff  have  given  me  what  appears  to 
be  a  free  range  in  the  north-eastern  armies,  I 
have  had  so  many  interesting  opportunities 
that  it  is  difficult  to  pick  any  one  in  preference 
to  another.  What  I  am  writing  in  this  story 
is  merely  the  narrative  of  a  single  corps  during 
this  change  of  front,  and  I  think  it  a  significant 
story,  because  I  believe  it  typifies  not  only  the 
corps  of  this  particular  army,  but  practically  all 
the  corps  now  in  the  field  on  this  Front.  General 
Ragosa,  who  commands  this  corps,  and  who 
has  entertained  me  for  the  best  part  of  three 
days,  has  given  me  every  opportunity  to  study 
his  whole  movement  and  permitted  one  of  his 
officers  to  prepare  sketches,  illustrating  his 
movement.  The  General  himself,  like  most 
men  who  deal  with  big  affairs,  is  a  very  modest 
and  simple  man.  To  talk  with  him  one  would 
not  guess  that  the  movement  which  has  resulted 
so  successfully  for  his  corps  and  so  disastrously 
for  the  enemy,  was  the  product  of  a  programme 
worked  out  in  the  quiet  of  a  remote  head-quarters 
and  carried  successfully  through  under  his 
direction  by  means  of  the  field  wire  stretched 
through  the  forest  for  the  30  kilometres  that 
separate  his  head-quarters  from  the  fighting  line. 
—  117  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

When  I  suggested  to  him  that  his  fighting 
around  Opatov  made  an  extremely  interesting 
story,  he  only  shrugged  his  shoulders  and  replied, 
"  But  in  this  war  it  is  only  a  small  fight.  What 
is  the  operation  of  a  single  army,  much  less  the 
work  of  one  of  its  units  ?  "  Yet  one  feels 
that  the  success  of  this  war  will  be  the  sum  of 
the  work  of  the  many  units,  and  as  this  battle 
resulted  in  the  entire  breaking  up  of  the  symmetry 
of  the  Austro-German  following  movement,  and 
is  one  of  the  few  actions  during  the  recent  months 
of  this  war  which  was  fought  in  the  open  without 
trenches,  it  is  extremely  interesting.  Indeed, 
in  any  other  war  it  would  have  been  called  a 
good-sized  action  ;  from  first  to  last  on  both 
sides  I  suppose  that  more  than  100,000  men 
and  perhaps  350  to  400  guns  were  engaged. 
Let  me  describe  it. 

General  Ragosa's  corps  was  on  the  Nida  river, 
and  it  was  with  great  regret  that  the  troops  left 
the  trenches  that  they  had  been  defending  all 
winter.  Their  new  line  was  extremely  strong, 
and  after  they  had  started,  it  was  assumed  by 
the  enemy  that  they  could  leisurely  follow  the 
Russians,  and  again  sit  down  before  their  posi- 
tions. 

But  they  were  not  counting  on  this  particular 
General  when  they  made  their  advance.  Instead 
of  going  back  to  his  line,  he  brought  his  units  to 
—  118  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

the  line  running  from  Lubenia  to  and  through 
Opatov  to  the  south,  where  he  halted  and  awaited 
the  advancing  enemy  who  came  on  in  four  divisions. 
These  were  the  third  German  Landwehr  division 
who  were  moving  eastward  and  a  little  to  the  north 
of  Lubenia.  Next,  coming  from  the  direction 
of  Kielce  was  the  German  division  of  General 
Bredow  supported  by  the  84th  Austrian  regi- 
ment ;  this  unit  was  moving  directly  against 
the  manufacturing  town  of  Ostzowiec.  Further 
to  the  south  came  the  crack  Austrian  division, 
the  25th,  which  was  composed  of  the  4th  Deutsch- 
meister  regiment  from  Vienna  and  the  25th, 
17th  and  10 th  Jager  units,  the  division  itself 
being  commanded  by  the  Archduke  Peter  Fer- 
dinand. The  25th  division  was  moving  on  the 
Lagow  road  headed  for  Opatov,  while  the  4th 
Austrian  division  (a  Landwehr  formation)  sup- 
ported by  the  41st  Honved  division  (regiments 
2i0y  31,  32  and  one  other)  was  making  for  the 
same  objective.  It  is  probable  that  the  enemy 
units,  approaching  the  command  of  Ragosa, 
outnumbered  the  Russians  in  that  particular 
portion  of  the  theatre  of  operations  by  at  least 
forty  per  cent.  Certainly  they  never  expected 
that  any  action  would  be  given  by  the  supposedly 
demoralized  Russians  short  of  their  fortified 
line,  to  which  they  were  supposed  by  the  enemy 
to  be  retiring  in  hot  haste. 
—  119  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

General  Ragosa  wishing  to  finish  up  the  weakest 
portion  first,  as  usual  picked  the  Austrians  for 
his  first  surprise  party.  But  this  action  he 
anticipated  by  making  a  feint  against  the  Ger- 
man corps,  driving  in  their  advance  guards  by 
vigorous  attacks  and  causing  the  whole  move- 
ment to  halt  and  commence  deploying  for  an 
engagement.  This  took  place  on  May  15.  On 
the  same  day  with  all  his  available  strength  he 
swung  furiously,  with  Opatov  as  an  axis  from 
both  north  and  south,  catching  the  25th  division 
on  the  road  between  Lagow  and  Opatov  with 
a  bayonet  charge  delivered  from  the  mountain 
over  and  around  which  his  troops  had  been 
marching  all  night.  Simultaneously  another 
portion  of  his  command  swept  up  on  the  4th 
division  coming  from  Iwaniska  to  Opatov.  In 
the  meantime  a  heavy  force  of  Cossacks  had 
ridden  round  the  Austrian  line  and  actually 
hit  their  line  of  communications  at  the  exact 
time  that  the  infantry  fell  on  the  main  column 
with  a  bayonet  charge  of  such  impetuosity  and 
fury  that  the  entire  Austrian  formation  crumpled 
up. 

At  the  same  time  the  4th  division  was  meeting 
a  similar  fate  further  south  ;  the  two  were  thrown 
together  in  a  helpless  mass  and  suffered  a  loss 
of  between  three  and  four  thousand  in  casualties 
and  nearly  three  thousand  in  prisoners,  besides 
—  120  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

losing  a  large  number  of  machine  guns  and  the 
bulk  of  their  baggage.  The  balance,  supported 
by  the  41st  Honved  division,  which  had  been 
hurried  up,  managed  to  wriggle  themselves  out 
of  their  predicament  by  falling  back  on  Wokacow, 
and  the  whole  retired  to  Lagow,  beyond  which 
the  Russians  were  not  permitted  to  pursue  them 
lest  they  should  break  the  symmetry  of  their  own 
entire  line.  Immediately  after  this  action  against 
the  Austrians,  a  large  portion  of  the  same  troops 
made  a  forced  march  back  over  the  mountain 
which  had  separated  the  Austrians  from  their 
German  neighbours  and  fell  on  the  right  of  the 
German  formation,  while  the  frontal  attacks, 
which  had  formerly  been  feints,  were  now 
delivered  in  dead  earnest. 

The  result  was  that  Bredow's  formation  was 
taken  suddenly  in  front  and  on  its  right  flank, 
and  on  May  18  began  to  fall  back  until  it  was 
supported  by  the  4th  Landwehr  division,  which 
had  been  hurriedly  snatched  out  of  the  line 
to  the  north  to  prevent  Bredow  from  suffer- 
ing a  fate  similar  to  that  which  overtook  the 
Austrians  to  the  south.  After  falling  back  to 
Bodzentin  where  it  was  joined  by  the  supports 
from  the  north,  the  Germans  pulled  themselves 
together  to  make  a  stand.  But  here,  as  in 
the  south,  general  orders  prevented  the  Russians 
from  moving  further  against  their  defeated  foe 
—  121  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

lest  in  their  enthusiasm  they  might  advance 
too  far  and  leave  a  hole  in  their  own  line.  Thus 
Ragosa's  command  after  four  days  of  constant 
action  came  to  a  stand  and  their  part  in  the 
movement  ended. 

But  the  trouble  of  the  enemy  was  not  over. 
Ragosa  at  once  discovered  that  the  4th  Landwehr 
division  that  had  been  hurried  up  to  support 
retreating  Bredow,  had  been  taken  from  the 
front  of  his  neighbouring  corps,  and  this  informa- 
tion he  promptly  passed  on  to  his  friend  com- 
manding the  —  corps  who  gladly  passed  the 
word  on  to  his  own  front.  The  regiments  in 
that  quarter  promptly  punched  a  hole  in  the 
German  w^eakened  line,  and  with  vicious  bayonet 
attacks  killed  and  captured  a  large  number  of 
Germans,  also  forcing  back  their  line.  Something 
similar  happened  in  the  corps  to  the  south  of 
Ragosa 's  corps  who  were  in  a  fever  of  excitement 
because  of  the  big  fighting  on  the  San,  which 
was  going  on  just  to  their  left  while  Ragosa's 
guns  were  thundering  just  to  the  north.  The 
result  was  that  out  of  a  kind  of  sympathetic 
contagion,  they  fixed  bayonets  and  rushed  on 
the  enemy  in  their  front  with  a  fury  equal  to 
that  which  was  going  on  in  both  corps  north 
of  them.  Thus  it  came  about  that  three  quar- 
ters of  this  particular  army  became  engaged  in 
general  action  by  the  sheer  initiative  of  Ragosa, 
—  122  — 


A  second-line  trench  near  Opatov, 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

and  maintained  it  entirely  by  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  troops  engaged.  These  corps  even  in 
retreat  could  not  be  restrained  from  going  back 
and  having  a  turn  with  the  enemy. 

The  change  of  front  in  Poland  resulted  in 
losses  in  killed,  wounded  and  prisoners  to  the 
enemy,  approximating  in  this  army  alone  between 
20,000  and  30,000,  with  a  loss  to  the  Russians 
probably  less  than  a  third  of  that  number,  besides 
resulting  in  an  increase  of  moral  to  the  latter, 
which  has  fully  offset  any  depression  caused  by 
their  retirement.  In  talking  with  their  officers, 
and  I  talked  with  at  least  a  score,  I  heard 
everywhere  the  same  complaint,  namely  that 
it  was  becoming  increasingly  difficult  to  keep 
their  soldiers  in  the  trenches.  So  eager  is  the 
whole  army  to  be  advancing,  that  only  constant 
discipline  and  watching  prevent  individual  units 
from  becoming  excited  and  getting  up  and  attack- 
ing, thus  precipitating  a  general  action  which 
the  Russians  wish  to  avoid  while  the  movement 
in  Galicia  is  one  of  fluctuation  and  uncertainty. 

Little  definite  information  was  available  on 
this  Front  as  to  what  was  going  on  further  south, 
but  certainly  I  found  not  the  slightest  sign  of 
depression  among  either  men  or  officers  with 
whom  I  talked.  As  one  remarked,  ''  Well,  what 
of  it  ?  You  do  not  understand  our  soldiers. 
They  can  retreat  every  day  for  a  month  and 
—  123  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

come  back  as  full  of  fight  at  the  end  of  that  time 
as  when  they  started.  A  few  Russian  '  defeats/ 
as  the  Germans  call  them,  will  be  a  disaster  for 
the  Kaiser.  Don't  worry.  We  will  come  back 
all  right  and  it  cannot  be  too  soon  for  the  taste 
of  this  army.'' 


124 


WITH  THE  ARMY  IN  SOUTHERN 
POLAND 


CHAPTER  IX 

WITH    THE    ARMY    IN    SOUTHERN 
POLAND 

Dated  : 
A  Certain  Army  Corps  Head-quarters 
Somewhere  in  Southern  Poland 
June  I,  1915. 

TO-DAY  has  been  one  of  the  most  interesting 
that  I  have  spent  since  I  came  to  Russia 
last  September.  The  General  commanding  this 
certain  army  corps,  which,  while  the  war  lasts, 
must  not  be  identified,  carefully  mapped  out 
an  ideal  day  for  us,  and  made  it  possible  of 
fulfilment  by  placing  two  motors  at  our 
disposal  and  permitting  a  member  of  his 
personal  staff  to  accompany  us  as  guide, 
philosopher  and  friend.  This  very  charming 
gentleman,  M.  Riabonschisky,  represents  a 
type  which  one  sees  increasingly  in  the  Russian 
Army  as  the  war  grows  older.  M.  Riabonschisky 
served  his  term  of  years  in  the  army,  and  then 
being  wealthy  and  of  a  distinguished  Moscow 
family,  went  into  the  banking  business,  and 
—  127  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

the  beginning  of  the  war  found  him  one  of  the 
leading  business  men  of  the  old  Russian  capital. 
With  the  first  call  he  instantly  abandoned  his 
desk  and  sedentary  habits,  and  became  again 
a  subaltern,  which  was  his  rank  twenty  odd 
years  ago ;  when  he  came  to  the  Front  it  was  as 
aide-de-camp  of  a  General  commanding  an  army 
corps. 

In  a  shabby  uniform  and  with  face  tanned  to 
the  colour  of  old  leather  one  now  finds  the  Moscow 
millionaire  working  harder  than  a  common  soldier. 
Our  friend  had  by  no  means  confined  his  activities 
to  routine  work  at  head-quarters,  but  as  the  St. 
George's  Cross  on  his  breast  indicated,  had  seen 
a  bit  of  active  service  as  well.  Though  he  talked 
freely  enough  on  every  known  subject,  I  found 
him  uncommunicative  on  the  subject  of  his  Cross 
denoting  distinguished  merit  in  the  face  of  an 
enemy.  A  little  persistent  tact,  however,  finally 
got  out  of  him  that  before  Lublin,  in  a  crisis  on 
the  positions,  he  had  gone  to  the  front  line  trenches 
in  a  motor  car  loaded  with  ammunition  for  the 
troops  who  for  lack  of  it  were  on  the  point  of 
retiring.  With  the  return  trip  he  brought  out 
all  the  wounded  his  car  could  hold.  This,  then, 
was  the  former  banker  who  now  accompanied 
us  on  a  tour  of  inspection  of  the  army  of  which 
he  was  as  proud  as  the  Commanding  General 
himself  was. 

—  128  — 


.5  -Ofl 


.2  ^ 
'w  o 


o 

^§ 

C  u 

••H    4-1 

I.S 
St 

o  -^ 

M  "Ofi 

2  3 

Sg 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

Leaving  our  head-quarters  we  drove  south 
through  a  beautiful  woodland  for  nearly  two 
hours,  to  the  headquarters  of  that  certain  division 
of  the  army  which  has  covered  itself  with  glory 
in  the  recent  fighting  around  Opatov,  where  we 
were  received  cordially  by  the  commander.  Tele- 
grams sent  ahead  had  advised  him  of  our  arrival, 
and  he  had  done  his  part  in  arranging  details 
that  our  trip  might  be  as  interesting  as  possible. 
After  a  few  minutes  drinking  tea  and  smoking 
cigarettes  we  again  took  cars  and  motored  for 
another  i6  versts  to  |^the  town  of  Opatov,  where 
one  of  the  brigade  head-quarters  was  located. 
This  quaint  old  Polish  town  with  a  castle  and 
a  wall  around  it  has  been  three  times  visited  by 
the  tide  of  battle,  and  the  hills  about  it  (it  lies 
in  a  hollow)  are  pitted  with  the  caves  made  by 
the  uneasy  inhabitants,  whose  experience  of 
shell  fire  has  been  disturbing.  One  imagines 
from  the  number  of  dugouts  one  sees  that  the 
whole  population  might  easily  move  under  ground 
at  an  hour's  notice.  However,  in  spite  of  the 
tumult  of  battles  which  have  been  fought  around 
it,  Opatov  has  not  been  scarred  by  shell  fire. 

From  here  we  went  directly  west  on  the  road 
to  Lagow  for  perhaps  5  versts,  when  we  turned 
off  suddenly  on  to  a  faint  road  and  down  into 
a  little  hollow  where  a  tiny  village  nestled  in 
which  we   were  told  we  should  find  the  head- 

—  129  —  K 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

quarters  of  a  certain  regiment  that  we  had  come 
to  visit.  As  our  cars  came  over  the  crest  of 
the  hill  we  noticed  assembled  on  a  flat  field, 
that  lay  in  the  hollow,  absolutely  concealed 
from  the  outside  world,  a  block  of  troops  stand- 
ing under  arms.  My  first  impression  was  that 
this  was  a  couple  of  reserve  units  just  going 
back  to  the  trenches  to  relieve  their  fellows. 
We  were  delighted  at  such  a  bit  of  luck.  On 
pulling  up  our  cars  by  the  side  of  the  road  we 
found  ourselves  greeted  by  the  Colonel  and 
staff  of  the  regiment,  to  whom  we  were  intro- 
duced by  our  guide.  After  a  few  words  in  Rus- 
sian my  friend  turned,  his  face  wreathed  in  smiles, 
and  said,  ''The  Colonel  is  very  kind;  he  has 
ordered  a  review  for  your  inspection.'* 

With  the  staff  we  strolled  up  to  the  centre  of  the 
field,  where  on  two  sides  we  faced  two  of  the  most 
magnificent  battalions  of  troops  that  it  has  ever 
been  my  fortune  to  see,  while  on  the  third  side 
were  parked  the  machine-gun  batteries  of  the 
regiment.  For  a  few  minutes  we  stood  in  the 
centre  of  the  three-sided  square  while  the  Colonel, 
with  unconcealed  pride,  told  us  something  of 
the  history  of  the  regiment  that  stood  before 
us.  Its  name  and  its  corps  must  not  be  men- 
tioned, but  it  is  permissible  to  say  that  it  is  from 
Moscow  and  is  one  of  the  oldest  regiments  in 
the  Russian  service,  with  traditions  running 
—  130  — 


J.  ».    »  >      > 


u 

o 

•Ofl 

o 
o 

o 


a 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

back  for  125  years.  It  is  one  of  the  two  forma- 
tions of  the  entire  Russian  army  which  is  per- 
mitted to  march  in  review  with  fixed  bayonets, 
a  distinction  acquired  by  125  years  of  history 
marked  by  successful  work  with  cold  steel. 

I  have  written  in  a  previous  chapter  of  the 
fighting  around  Opatov  and  of  the  wonderful 
work  done  by  the  troops  of  this  army  corps. 
Now  we  learned  from  the  Colonel  that  it  was 
his  regiment  that  made  the  march  over  the  moun- 
tain, and  fell  with  the  bayonet  upon  the  flank 
of  the  25th  Austrian  division  with  such  an  im- 
petus and  fury  that  every  man  had  killed  or  cap- 
tured a  soldier  of  the  enemy.  That  we  might 
not  minimize  the  glory  of  his  men  the  Colonel 
assured  us  that  the  Austrian  25th  was  no  scrub 
Landwehr  or  reserve  formation,  but  the  very  elite 
of  the  elite  of  the  Austrian  army,  embodying  the 
famous  Deutschmeister  regiment  from  Vienna, 
which  was  supposed  to  be  the  finest  organiza- 
tion of  infantry  in  the  Hapsburg  realm.  What 
we  saw  before  us  were  two  of  the  four  battalions 
of  the  Moscow  regiment  who  were  in  reserve 
for  a  few  days'  rest,  while  their  brothers  in 
the  other  two  battalions  were  4  versts  forward 
in  the  fighting  line. 

Suddenly  the  Colonel  turned  about  and  in  a 
voice  of  thunder  uttered  a  command,  and  in- 
stantly the  two  thousand  men  became  as  rigid 
—  131  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

as  two  thousand  statues.  Another  word,  and 
with  the  cHck  of  a  bit  of  well-oiled  mechanism, 
two  thousand  rifles  came  to  the  present.  Another 
command  from  the  Colonel  and  the  regimental 
band  on  the  right  flank,  with  its  thirty  pieces 
of  brass,  burst  forth  with  ''  Rule  Britannia." 
A  moment's  silence  followed,  and  then  came 
the  strains  of  the  American  National  Anthem, 
followed  in  turn  by  the  Russian  National  Anthem. 
As  the  last  strain  died  away  there  came  another 
sharp  command  from  the  Colonel,  and  once  more 
the  mechanism  clicked  and  two  thousand  guns 
came  to  the  ground  as  one.  Then,  stepping 
out  from  the  little  group  of  the  staff,  the  Colonel 
addressed  the  regiment  in  a  deep  melodious 
voice  in  words  that  carried  to  the  furthest  man. 
I  have  written  much  of  the  rapidly  growing  feel- 
ing of  friendship  and  affection  between  Eng- 
land and  Russia.  For  six  months  I  have  noticed 
a  gradual  development  of  this  sentiment,  but 
I  have  never  realized  until  this  day  that  it  was 
percolating  to  the  very  foundations  of  the  Rus- 
sian people.  In  Petrograd  and  Moscow  one 
naturally  expects  the  diplomats  and  politicians 
to  emphasize  this  point  to  a  member  of  the 
press.  But  out  at  the  Front  these  men  who  deal 
in  steel  and  blood  are  not  given  to  fine  phrases, 
nor  are  they  wont  to  speak  for  effect.  For  ten 
months  their  lives  have  been  lives  of  danger 
—  132  — 


u 

o 
•on 

o 
a 
o 
O 
o 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

and  hardships,  and  in  their  eyes  and  in  their 
faces  one  sees  sincerity  and  truth  written  large 
for  those  who  study  human  nature  to  read.  The 
speech  was  to  me  so  impressive  that  it  seems 
well  worth  while  to  quote  the  officer's  stirring 
words,  words  which  found  an  echo  in  the  heart 
of  the  writer,  who  is  an  American  citizen  and 
not  a  British  subject  at  all.  With  his  hand 
held  aloft  the  Colonel  said : — 

''  Attention, — Gentlemen,  officers  and  soldiers  : 
We  have  to-day  the  honour  to  receive  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  great  English  nation,  our  faith- 
ful allies  now  fighting  with  us  for  the  good  of 
us  all  to  punish  our  common  treacherous  enemy. 
They  are  dear  to  our  hearts  because  they  are 
conducting  this  war  with  such  sacrifices  and 
such  incredible  bravery.  It  is  a  great  pleasure 
and  privilege  for  our  regiment  to  see  among 
us  the  representatives  of  the  country  where 
dwell  the  bravest  of  the  brave.  This  regiment, 
beloved  of  Suvoroff,  will  always  do  its  uttermost 
to  uphold  the  reputation  of  Russian  arms,  that 
they  may  be  worthy  to  fight  this  battle  shoulder 
to  shoulder  with  their  noble  allies  in  the  British 
army.  Officers  and  soldiers,  I  call  for  a  hearty 
cheer  for  the  great  King  of  England.  Long  live 
George  the  Fifth.'* 

The  response  came  from  two  thousand  lungs 
and  throats  with  the  suddenness  of  a  clap  of 

—  133  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

thunder.  Out  of  the  misery  and  chaos  of  this 
world-disaster  there  is  surely  coming  a  new  spirit 
and  a  new-found  feeling  of  respect  and  regard  be- 
tween the  allied  nations,  a  feeling  which  in  itself 
is  perhaps  laying  the  foundation  of  a  greater 
peace  movement  than  all  the  harangues  and 
platitudes  of  the  preachers  of  pacificism.  Be- 
fore this  war  I  dare  say  that  England  and  the 
English  meant  nothing  to  the  peasant  soldier 
of  Russia.  This  is  no  longer  true,  and  to  stand 
as  I  stood  in  this  hollow  square  and  listen  for 
five  minutes  to  these  war-stained  veterans  cheer- 
ing themselves  hoarse  for  the  ally  whom  they 
have  been  taught  to  consider  the  personification  of 
soldierly  virtues,  was  to  feel  that  perhaps  from 
this  war  may  come  future  relations  which  the 
next  generation  will  look  back  upon  as  having 
in  large  measure  justified  the  price.  The  Colonel 
raised  his  hand  and  instantly  the  tumult  died 
away.  The  Colonel  courteously  invited  me  to 
address  the  Regiment  on  behalf  of  England,  but 
as  a  neutral  this  was  an  impossible  role. 

Afterwards  the  Colonel  ordered  a  review  of  the 
two  battalions,  and  in  company  formation  they 
passed  by  with  their  bayonets  at  the  charge 
and  with  every  eye  fixed  on  the  commander, 
while  every  officer  marched  at  the  salute.  1 
have  never  seen  a  more  impressive  body  of  men. 
Dirty  and  shabby,  with  faces  tanned  like  shoe 
—  134  — 


•OX) 

o 

•  >H 

;-i 
o 
•ofl 
o 
a 
o 

a 

(U 


:,  i:^;':;  \^i. 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

leather,  and  unshaven,  they  marched  past,  the 
picture  of  men  of  action.  In  each  face  was 
the  pride  of  regiment  and  country  and  the 
respect  of  self.  As  they  passed,  company  after 
company,  the  beaming  Colonel  said  to  me, ''  When 
my  men  come  at  the  charge  the  Austrians  never 
wait  for  them  to  come  into  the  trenches.  They 
fire  on  us  until  we  are  within  ten  feet  and  then 
they  fall  on  their  knees  and  beg  for  quarter.'' 
As  the  writer  looked  into  these  earnest  serious 
faces  that  passed  by,  each  seamed  with  lines 
of  grim  determination  and  eyes  steeled  with 
the  hardness  engendered  by  war,  he  felt  an  in- 
creased respect  for  the  Austrian  who  waited  until 
the  enemy  were  within  ten  feet.  Somehow  one 
felt  that  a  hundred  feet  start  would  be  an  in- 
sufficient handicap  to  get  away  from  these  fellows 
when  they  came  for  one  with  their  bayonets 
levelled  and  their  leather  throats  howling  for 
the  blood  of  the  enemy. 

After  the  infantry  we  inspected  the  machine- 
gun  batteries  of  the  regiment,  and  with  special 
pride  the  Colonel  showed  us  the  four  captured 
machine-guns  taken  from  the  Austrians  in  the 
recent  action,  together  with  large  quantities  of 
ammunition.  After  the  machine-guns  were  ex- 
amined, the  heroes  of  the  St.  George's  Cross, 
decorated  in  the  recent  battle,  were  brought 
forward  to  be  photographed.  Then  the  band 
—  135  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

played  the  air  of  the  regiment,  while  the  officers 
of  the  regiment  joined  in  singing  a  rousing  melody 
which  has  been  the  regimental  song  for  the  125 
years  of  its  existence.  Then,  preceded  by  the 
band,  we  went  to  the  Colonel's  head-quarters, 
where  lunch  was  served,  the  band  playing  out- 
side while  we  ate. 

The  head-quarters  of  the  Colonel  were  in  a  school- 
house  hurriedly  adapted  to  the  needs  of  war. 
Our  table  was  the  children's  blackboard  taken 
from  the  walls  and  stretched  between  two  desks, 
the  scholars'  benches  serving  us  in  lieu  of  chairs. 
The  only  thing  in  the  whole  establishment  that 
did  not  reek  of  the  necessities  of  war  was  the 
food,  which  was  excellent.  The  rugged  Colonel, 
lean  as  a  race  horse  and  as  tough  as  whipcord, 
may  in  some  former  life  when  he  was  in  Moscow 
have  been  an  epicure  and  something  of  a  good 
liver.    Anyway  the  cooking  was  perfection. 

In  conversation  with  a  number  of  the  men 
who  sat  at  table,  I  heard  that  their  regiment 
had  been  in  thirty-four  actions  since  the  war 
had  started.  The  Colonel  himself  had  been 
wounded  no  less  than  three  times  in  the  war. 
One  Captain  of  the  staff  showed  me  a  hat  with 
a  bullet  hole  in  the  top  made  in  the  last  battle  ; 
while  the  Lieutenant-Colonel  laughingly  told 
me  that  they  could  not  kill  him  at  all;  though 
he  received  seventeen  bullets  through  his  clothes 
-  136- 


APRIL   to   AUGUST,    1915 

since  the  war  started  he  had  never  been  scratched 
in  any  action  in  which  he  had  been  engaged. 
The  tactical  position  of  a  Colonel  in  the  Russian 
army  is  in  the  rear,  I  am  told,  but  in  this 
regiment  I  learned  from  one  of  the  officers,  the 
Colonel  rarely  was  in  the  rear,  and  on  more 
than  one  occasion  he  had  led  the  charge  at  the 
very  head  of  his  men. 


137 


AN  AFTERNOON  AT  THE 
"POSITIONS" 


CHAPTER    X 

AN  AFTERNOON  AT  THE  *'  POSITIONS  " 

Dated : 
Somewhere  in  Poland, 

June  2,  1915. 

PROVIDED  with  carriages  we  left  our 
hospitable  Colonel  for  the  front  trenches 
4  versts  further  on.  As  we  were  near  the  Front 
when  we  were  at  regimental  head-quarters  it 
was  not  deemed  safe  to  take  the  motor-cars 
any  further,  on  account  of  the  clouds  of  dust 
which  they  leave  in  their  wake. 

The  country  here  is  spread  out  in  great  rolling 
valleys  with  very  little  timber  and  only  occa- 
sional crests  or  ridges  separating  one  beautiful 
verdant  stretch  of  landscape  from  another.  It 
struck  one  as  quite  obvious  in  riding  over  this 
country  that  the  men  who  planned  these  roads 
had  not  taken  war  into  consideration.  Had 
they  done  so  they  certainly  would  not  have 
placed  them  so  generally  along  ridges,  where 
one's  progress  can  be  seen  from  about  10  versts 
in  every  direction.  As  I  have  mentioned  in 
—  141 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

an  earlier  chapter,  this  particular  army  had  not 
fallen  back  on  its  fortified  and  prepared  line, 
but  was  camping  out  about  25  to  30  versts 
in  front  of  it  in  positions  which  were  some- 
what informal.  In  riding  through  this  country 
one  has  the  unpleasant  sensation  that  every 
time  one  shows  up  on  a  ridge,  an  enemy  of 
an  observing  and  enterprising  disposition  might  be 
tempted  to  take  a  shot  at  one  just  for  practice. 
My  friend  the  banker  soldier  explained,  however, 
that  we  should  be  difficult  to  hit,  and  anyway 
he  rather  enjoyed  shell  fire.  ''It  is  a  sort  of 
nice  game,''  he  told  me  with  a  charming  smile, 
*'  one  finds  it  very  entertaining  and  not  altogether 
dangerous.'' 

However  his  insouciance  did  not  prevent 
him  taking  the  precaution  of  forbidding  the  use 
of  motor-cars  with  their  clouds  of  dust,  and  he  was 
quite  content  that  we  should  take  the  carriages, 
which  made  less  of  a  target  on  the  dry  roads. 

From  regimental  head-quarters  we  went  up 
into  a  little  gulch  where  we  again  found  that 
we  were  expected,  and  a  genial  Colonel  of  a 
howitzer  battery  was  waiting  to  entertain  us. 
Five  of  our  guns  were  sitting  along  the  road 
with  their  muzzled  noses  up  in  the  air  at  an 
angle  of  about  35  degrees  waiting,  waiting  for 
some  one  to  give  them  word  to  shoot  at  some- 
thing or  other. 

—  142  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

Batteries  are  always  peculiarly  fascinating 
to  me ;  they  always  appear  so  perfect  in  their 
efficiency,  and  capable  of  getting  work  done 
when  required.  These  five  were  of  the  4-inch 
variety,  with  an  elevation  of  forty-five  degrees 
obtainable. 

At  a  word  from  the  Colonel  they  were  cleared 
for  action  and  their  sighting  apparatus  inspected 
and  explained.  As  usual  they  were  equipped 
with  panorama  sights,  with  the  aiming  point  a 
group  of  trees  to  the  right  and  rear  of  the  posi- 
tion, and  with  their  observation  point  3 
miles  away  in  a  trench  near  the  infantry  line. 
The  sixth  gun  was  doing  lonely  duty  a  mile 
away  in  a  little  trench  all  by  itself.  This  position 
the  Colonel  informed  us  was  shelled  yesterday 
by  the  enemy,  who  fired  thirty-five  12-centimetre 
shells  at  them  without  scoring  a  single  hit.  After 
looking  at  the  guns  we  spent  an  hour  at  tea, 
and  then  in  our  carts  pushed  on  up  the  valley, 
where  we  found  a  regiment  of  Cossack  cavalry 
in  reserve.  The  hundreds  of  horses  were  all 
saddled  and  wandering  about,  each  meander- 
ing where  its  fancy  led.  Everywhere  on  the 
grass  and  under  the  few  clumps  of  brush  were 
sitting  or  sleeping  the  men,  few  of  whom  had 
any  shelter  or  tents  of  any  kind,  and  the  whole 
encampment  was  about  as  informal  as  the  en- 
campment of  a  herd  of  cattle.  In  fact  the  Cos- 
—  143  — 


THE   RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN 

sacks  impress  one  as  a  kind  of  game  who  have 
no  more  need  of  shelter  or  comforts  than  the 
deer  of  the  forest.  When  they  settle  down  for 
the  night  they  turn  their  horses  loose,  eat  a  bit 
of  ration  and  then  sit  under  a  tree  and  go  to 
sleep.  It  is  all  very  charming  and  simple.  Our 
guide  informed  us  that  when  they  wanted  their 
horses  they  simply  went  out  and  whistled  for 
them  as  a  mother  sheep  bleats  for  its  young, 
and  that  in  a  surprisingly  short  time  every  sol- 
dier found  his  mount.  The  soldiers  are  devoted 
to  their  horses,  and  in  a  dozen  different  places 
one  could  see  them  rubbing  down  their  mounts 
or  rubbing  their  noses  and  petting  them. 

From  this  encampment  the  road  went  up  to 
its  usual  place  on  the  crest  of  the  hill.  The 
soldier  driver  of  our  carriage  did  not  seem  to 
feel  the  same  amount  of  enthusiasm  about  the 
*'  nice  game  "  of  being  shelled,  and  protested  as 
much  as  he  dared  about  taking  the  horses  further ; 
but  being  quietly  sat  upon,  he  subsided  with  a 
deep  sigh  and  started  up  over  the  ridge  in  the 
direction  of  a  clump  of  houses  beyond  another 
rise  of  ground  at  an  astonishingly  rapid  speed. 
From  the  crest  along  which  we  travelled  we 
had  a  beautiful  view  of  a  gently  undulating 
valley  lying  peaceful  and  serene  under  the  warm 
afternoon  sun.  A  few  insects  buzzing  about 
in  the  soft  air  near  the  carriage  were  the  only 
V  —  144  — 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

signs  of  life  about  us.  We  drove  up  at  a  good 
round  pace  to  the  little  clump  of  trees  which 
sheltered  a  group  of  farm  buildings.  As  we  were 
getting  out  of  our  carriage  there  was  a  sharp 
report  to  the  road  on  our  right,  and  looking 
back  I  saw  the  fleecy  white  puff  of  a  shrapnel 
shell  breaking  just  over  the  road  to  the  north 
of  us.  Like  the  bloom  of  cotton  the  smoke  hung 
for  an  instant  in  the  air  and  then  slowly  ex- 
panding drifted  off.  A  moment  later,  almost 
in  the  same  place,  another  beautiful  white  puff, 
with  its  heart  of  copper-red,  appeared  over  the 
road,  and  again  the  sharp  sound  of  its  burst 
drifted  across  the  valley.  The  Austrian  shrapnel 
has  a  bit  of  reddish-brown  smoke  which  must  be, 
I  think,  from  the  bursting  charge  in  the  shell. 

Our  guide  was  quite  delighted  and  smiled 
and  clicked  his  heels  cheerfully  as  he  ushered 
us  into  the  little  room  of  the  officer  commanding 
the  regiment  in  the  trenches  just  ahead  of  us- 
Even  as  he  greeted  us,  the  telephone  rang  in 
the  little  low-ceilinged  room  of  the  cottage,  and 
he  excused  himself  as  he  went  to  reply  to  it. 
In  a  few  minutes  he  came  back  with  an  annoyed 
expression  on  his  face.  "  These  unpleasant  Aus- 
trians,''  he  said  in  disgust.  "  They  are  always 
up  to  their  silly  tricks.  They  have  been  shelling 
some  Red  Cross  carts  on  the  road.  I  have  just 
ordered  the  howitzer  battery  in  our  rear  to  come 

—  145  —  L 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

into    action    and    we    shall   see    if   we    cannot 
give   them  a  lesson  in  manners/' 

After  a  few  pleasantries  he  asked  what  it  was 
that  we  would  most  like,  and  I  replied  in  my  stock 
phrases,  ''  Observation  points  and  trenches,  if  you 
please."  He  stood  for  a  moment  studying  the  tip 
of  his  dusty  boot ;  evidently  he  was  not  very  eager 
about  the  job.  However,  he  shrugged  his  shoul- 
ders and  went  back  to  the  telephone,  and  after  a 
few  minutes  conversation  came  back  and  said 
to  us :  '*  It  is  a  very  bad  time  to  go  into  our 
trenches,  as  we  have  no  covered  ways,  and  in  the 
daytime  one  is  seen,  and  the  enemy  always  begin 
firing.  It  is  very  unsafe,  but  if  you  are  very 
anxious  I  shall  permit  one  of  you  to  go  for- 
ward, though  it  is  not  convenient.  When  the 
enemy  begin  to  fire,  our  batteries  reply,  and 
firing  starts  in  all  the  trenches.  The  soldiers 
like  to  fight,  and  it  doesn't  take  much  to  start 
them.'' 

Put  in  this  way  none  of  us  felt  very  keen 
about  insisting.  So  we  all  compromised  by  a 
visit  to  a  secondary  position,  which  we  were 
told  was  not  very  dangerous,  as  the  enemy 
could  only  reach  it  with  their  shell  fire  and 
''  of  course  no  one  minds  that,"  as  the  ofiicer 
casually  put  it.  We  all  agreed  that,  of  course,  we 
did  not  mind  that,  and  so  trooped  off  with  the 
Colonel  to  the  trenches  and  dug-outs  where  the 
—  146  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

troops  who  were  not  in  the  firing  Hne  were  in 
immediate  reserve. 

The  group  of  dug-outs  was  flanked  with 
trenches,  for,  as  the  Colonel  informed  us,  ''  Who 
knows  when  this  position  may  be  attacked  ?  " 
And  then  he  added,  ''  You  see,  though  we  are 
not  in  the  direct  view  of  the  enemy  here,  they 
know  our  whereabouts  and  usually  about  this 
time  of  day  they  shell  the  place.  They  can  reach 
it  very  nicely  and  from  two  different  directions. 
Yesterday  it  became  so  hot  in  our  house  that 
we  all  spent  a  quiet  afternoon  in  the  dug-outs." 
He  paused  and  offered  us  a  cigarette,  and  as  he 
did  so  there  came  a  deep  boom  from  our  rear 
and  a  howitzer  shell  wailed  over  our  heads  on  its 
mission  of  protest  to  the  Austrians  about  firing 
on  Red  Cross  wagons.  A  few  seconds  later 
the  muffled  report  of  its  explosion  came  back 
across  the  valley.  A  second  later  another  and 
another  shell  went  over  our  heads.  The  Colonel 
smiled,  ''  You  see,"  he  said,  ''  my  orders  are 
being  carried  out.  No  doubt  the  enemy  will 
reply  soon." 

His  belief  was  justified.  A  moment  later  that 
extremely  distressing  sound  made  by  an  ap- 
proaching shell  came  to  our  ears,  followed  im- 
mediately by  its  sharp  report  as  it  burst  in  a 
field  a  few  hundred  yards  away.  I  looked  about 
at  the  soldiers  and  officers  around  me,  but  not 
—  147  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

one  even  cast  a  glance  in  the  direction  of  the 
smoke  drifting  away  over  the  field  near  by. 
After  wandering  about  his  position  for  half  or 
three-quarters  of  an  hour,  we  returned  to  the 
cottage.  It  consisted  of  but  three  rooms.  The 
telephone  room,  a  little  den  where  the  officers 
ate,  and  a  large  room  filled  with  straw  on  which 
they  slept  at  night,  when  sleeping  was  possible. 
Here  we  met  a  fine  grey-haired,  grizzled  Colonel, 
who,  as  my  banker  friend  informed  me,  commanded 
a  neighbouring  regiment,  the  —  Grenadiers.  He 
is  one  of  our  finest  officers  and  is  in  every  way 
worthy  of  his  regiment,  the  history  of  which 
stretches  back  over  two  centuries.  The  officer 
himself  looked  tired  and  shabby,  and  his  face 
was  deeply  lined  with  furrows.  We  read  about 
dreadful  sacrifices  in  the  Western  fighting,  but 
I  think  this  regiment,  which  again  I  regret 
that  I  cannot  name,  has  suffered  as  much  in 
this  war  as  any  unit  on  any  Front.  In  the 
two  weeks  of  fighting  around  Cracow  alone  it  i^has 
dwindled  from  4,000  men  to  800,  and  that  fort- 
night represented  but  a  small  fraction  of  the 
campaigning  which  it  has  done  since  the  war 
started.  Again  and  again  it  has  been  filled 
to  its  full  strength,  and  after  every  important 
action  its  ranks  were  depleted  hideously.  Now 
there  are  very  few  left  of  the  original  members, 
but  as  an  officer  proudly  said,  "  These  regiments 
--  148  — 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

have  their  traditions  of  which  their  soldiers  are 
proud.  Put  a  moujik  in  its  uniform  and  to- 
morrow he  is  a  grenadier  and  proud  of  it." 

The  Colonel,  who  sat  by  the  little  table  as  we 
talked,  did  not  speak  English,  but  in  response 
to  the  question  of  a  friend  who  addressed  him  in 
Russian,  he  said  with  a  tired  little  smile,  ''  Well, 
yes,  after  ten  months  one  is  getting  rather  tired 
of  the  war.  One  hopes  it  will  soon  be  over  and 
that  one  may  see  one's  home  and  children  once 

more,    but    one    wonders    if "     He    paused, 

smiled  a  little,  and  offered  us  a  cigarette.  It  is 
not  strange  that  these  men  who  live  day  and 
night  so  near  the  trenches  that  they  are  never 
out  of  sound  of  firing,  and  never  sleep  out  of  the 
zone  of  bursting  shells,  whose  every  day  is  associ- 
ated with  friends  and  soldiers  among  the  fallen, 
wonder  vaguely  if  they  will  ever  get  home.  The 
trench  occupied  by  this  man's  command  was 
so  exposed  that  he  could  only  reach  it  unobserved 
by  crawling  on  his  stomach  over  the  ridge,  and 
into  the  shallow  ditch  that  served  his  troops 
for  shelter. 

Leaving  the  little  farm  we  drove  back  over 
the  road  above  which  we  had  seen  the  burst- 
ing shells  on  our  arrival,  but  our  own  batteries, 
no  doubt,  had  diverted  the  enemy  from  practice 
on  the  road,  for  we  made  the  3  versts  without 
a  single  one  coming  our  way. 
—  149  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

It  was  closing  twilight  when  we  started  back 
for  the  head-quarters  that  we  had  left  in  the 
early  morning.  The  sun  had  set  and  the  peace 
and  serenity  of  the  evening  were  broken  only  by 
the  distant  thunder  of  an  occasional  shell  bursting 
in  the  west.  From  the  ridge  over  which  our 
road  ran  I  could  distinctly  see  the  smoke  from 
three  different  burning  villages  fired  by  the 
German  artillery.  One  wonders  what  on  earth 
the  enemy  have  in  mind  when  they  deliberately 
shell  these  pathetic  little  patches  of  straw- thatched 
peasant  homes.  Even  in  ordinary  times  these 
people  seem  to  have  a  hard  life  in  making  both 
ends  meet,  but  now  in  the  war  their  lot  is  a  most 
wretched  one.  Apparently  hardly  a  day  passes 
that  some  village  is  not  burned  by  the  long  range 
shells  of  the  enemy's  guns.  That  such  action 
has  any  military  benefit  seems  unlikely.  The 
mind  of  the  enemy  seems  bent  on  destruction, 
and  everywhere  their  foot  is  placed  grief 
follows. 

The  next  morning  for  several  hours  I  chatted 
with  the  General  and  his  Chief  of  Staff,  and  found, 
as  always  at  the  Front,  the  greatest  optimism. 
''  Have  you  seen  our  soldiers  at  the  Front  ?  ''  is 
the  question  always  asked,  and  when  one  answers 
in  the  affirmative  they  say,  "  Well,  then  how 
can  you  have  any  anxiety  as  to  the  future.  These 
men  may  retire  a  dozen  times,  but  demoralized 
—  150  — 


el 
o 

'•OJO 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

or  discouraged  they  are  never.  We  shall  win 
absolutely  surely.     Do  not  doubt  it." 

One  forms  the  opinion  that  the  place  for  the 
pessimist  is  at  the  Front.  In  the  crises  one  leaves 
the  big  cities  in  a  cloud  of  gloom,  and  the 
enthusiasm  and  spirit  increase  steadily,  until  in 
the  front  trenches  one  finds  the  officers  exercising 
every  effort  to  keep  their  men  from  climbing 
out  of  their  shelters  and  going  across  the  way  and 
bayoneting  the  enemy.  The  morale  of  the  Russian 
Army  as  I  have  seen  it  in  these  last  weeks  is 
extraordinary. 

We  left  head-quarters  and  motored  over  wretched 
roads  to  the  little  town  of  Ilza  where  the  quaintest 
village  I  have  seen  lies  in  a  little  hollow  beneath 
a  hill  on  which  is  perched  the  old  ruin  of  a  castle, 
its  crumbling  ramparts  and  decaying  battlements 
standing  silhouetted  against  the  sky.  We  halted 
in  the  village  to  inquire  the  condition  of  the  road 
to  Radom,  for  the  day  we  came  this  way  the 
enemy  had  been  shelling  it  and  the  remains  of 
a  horse  scattered  for  50  feet  along  the  highway 
told  us  that  their  practice  was  not  bad  at  all. 
We  were  informed  that  the  artillery  of  the  Germans 
commanded  the  first  4  versts,  but  after  that 
it  was  safe  enough.  Somehow  no  one  feels 
much  apprehension  about  artillery  fire,  and  in 
our  speedy  car  we  felt  confident  enough  of  doing 
the  4  versts  in  sufficient  haste  to  make  the 
—  151  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

chance  of  a  shot  hitting  us  at  6,500  yards  a  very 
slight  one.  As  soon  as  we  came  out  of  the  hollow, 
and  along  the  great  white  road  which  stretched 
across  the  green  fields,  I  saw  one  of  the  great 
sausage-shaped  German  Zeppelins  hanging  menac- 
ingly in  the  sky  to  the  west  of  us.  It  was  a  perfectly 
still  day  and  the  vessel  seemed  quite  motionless. 

At  the  end  of  the  4  versts  mentioned  there 
was  a  long  hill,  and  then  the  road  dipped  out 
of  sight  into  another  valley  where  the  omni- 
scient eye  of  the  German  sausage  could  not 
follow  us.  It  was  in  my  own  mind  that  it 
would  not  be  unpleasant  when  we  crossed 
the  ridge.  We  were  just  beginning  the  climb 
of  the  hill  when  our  own  motor-car  (which  had 
been  coughing  and  protesting  all  day)  gave  three 
huge  snorts,  exploded  three  times  in  the  engine, 
and  came  to  a  dead  stop  on  the  road,  with  that 
indescribable  expression  on  its  snubby  inani- 
mate nose  of  a  car  that  had  finished  for  the  day. 
The  part  of  the  road  that  we  were  on  was  as 
white  as  chalk  against  the  green  of  the  hill,  with 
only  a  few  skinny  trees  (at  least  they  certainly 
looked  skinny  to  me)  to  hide  us.  Frantic  efforts  to 
crank  the  car  and  get  it  started  only  resulted  in  a 
few  explosions,  and  minor  protests  from  its  interior. 

So  there  we  sat  in  the  blazing  sun  while 
our  extremely  competent  chauffeur  took  off 
his  coat  and  crawled  under  the  car  and  did  a 
—  152  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

lot  of  tinkering  and  hammering.     He  was  such  a 
good  and  cool-headed  individual  and  went  about 
his   work   so   conscientiously   that   one   did  not 
feel  inclined  to  go  off  in  the  one  good  car  and 
leave  him  alone  in  his  predicament.     So  we  all 
sat    under    the  skinny    tree  and  smoked  while 
we  watched  three  shells  burst  on  the  road  over 
which  we  had  just  passed.     I  must  confess  to 
a  feeling  of  extreme  annoyance  at  this  particular 
moment.     One  can  feel  a  certain   exaltation  in 
hustling  down  a  road  at  seventy  miles  an  hour 
and  being  shot  at,  but  somehow  there  is  very 
little  interest  in  sitting  out  in  the  blazing  sun  on 
a  white  road  hoping  that  you  can  get  your  car 
started  before  the  enemy  gets  your  range.    About 
the  time  the  third  shell  landed  on  the  road,  our 
car  changed  its  mind  and  its  engines  suddenly 
went  into  action  with  a  tumult  like  a  machine 
gun  battery.     We  climbed  in  our  cars  and  the 
driver   threw    in   the   clutches   and   our    motor 
made  at  least  fifty  feet  in  one  jump  and  went 
over  the  crest  of  the  hill  in  a  cloud  of  dust.    The 
man  who  sold  it  to  me  assured  me  that  it  once 
did  140  versts  on  a  race  track  in  one  hour.     My 
own  impression  is  that  it  was  doing  about  150 
an  hour  when  it  cleared  the  ridge  and  the  Zeppelin 
was  lost  to  sight. 

An  hour  later  we  were  in  Radom,  and  by  mid- 
night back  once  more  in  Warsaw. 

—  153  — 


HOW  THE  RUSSIANS  MET  THE 
FIRST  GAS  ATTACK 


CHAPTER    XI 

HOW    THE    RUSSIANS    MET    THE 
FIRST    GAS    ATTACK 

Dated  : 
Zyrardow,  Poland, 

June  5,  1915. 

ONE  of  the  finest  stories  of  fortitude  and 
heroism  that  the  war  on  this  front  has 
produced  is  of  how  the  Siberian  troops  met  the 
first  large  scale  attack  upon  their  lines  in  which 
the  enemy  made  use  of  the  gas  horror,  that 
latest  product  of  the  ingenuity  of  the  Germans 
who  boast  so  loudly  and  so  continuously  of 
their  kultur  and  the  standards  of  'civilization 
and  humanity  which  they  declare  it  is  their  sacred 
duty  to  force  upon  the  world. 

There  has  been  a  lull  in  the  fighting  on  this 
immediate  front  for  some  time,  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  Germans  have  diverted  all  the 
troops  that  they  could  safely  spare  to  strengthen 
their  concentration  in  Galicia.  Only  an  occa- 
sional spasm  of  fighting  with  bursts  of  artillery 
firing,  first  in  one  point  and  then  another, 
—  157  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

have  created  sufficient  incident  to  mark  one 
day  from  another.  During  this  time  the  re- 
ports of  the  use  of  poisoned  gases  and  shells 
containing  deadly  fumes  have  drifted  over  to  this 
side,  and  it  has  been  expected  that  sooner  or  later 
something  of  the  same  sort  would  be  experienced 
on  the  Bzura  front.  Many  times  we  have  had 
shells  containing  formaline  fumes  and  other 
noxious  poisons  sent  screaming  over  our  trenches, 
but  their  use  heretofore  seemed  rather  in  the 
nature  of  an  experiment  than  of  a  serious  innova- 
tion. Enough,  however,  has  been  said  about 
them  here,  and  when  the  effort  on  a  wholesale 
scale  was  made,  it  found  our  troops  prepared 
morally,  if  not  yet  with  actual  equipment  in  the 
way  of  respirators. 

The  first  battle  of  the  gases  occurred  early  on 
the  morning  of  Sunday,  the  30th  of  May.  The 
days  are  very  long  here  now,  and  the  first  pale 
streaks  of  grey  were  just  tinging  the  western 
horizon,  when  the  look-outs  in  the  Russian 
trenches  on  the  Bzura  discovered  signs  of  activity 
in  the  trenches  of  the  enemy  which  at  this  point 
are  not  very  far  away  from  our  lines.  War 
has  become  such  an  every-day  business  that  an 
impending  attack  creates  no  more  excitement 
in  the  trenches  than  a  doctor  feels  when  he  is 
called  out  at  night  to  visit  a  patient.  Word 
was  passed  down  the  trenches  to  the  sleeping 
-  158  - 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

soldiers,  who  at  once  crawled  out  of  their  shelters 
and  dug-outs,  and  rubbing  their  sleepy  eyes 
took  their  places  at  the  loopholes  and  laid  out, 
ready  for  use,  their  piles  of  cartridge  clips.  The 
machine  gun  operators  uncovered  their  guns 
and  looked  to  them  to  see  that  all  was  well  oiled 
and  working  smoothly,  while  the  officers  strolled 
about  the  trenches  with  words  of  advice  and 
encouragement  to  their  men. 

Back  in  the  reserve  trenches  the  soldiers  were 
turning  out  more  leisurely  in  response  to  the  alarm 
telephoned  back.  Regimental,  brigade,  division 
and  army  corps  head-quarters  were  notified,  and 
within  ten  minutes  of  the  first  sign  of  a  movement, 
the  entire  position  threatened  was  on  the  qui  vive 
without  excitement  or  confusion.  But  this  was 
to  be  no  ordinary  attack  ;  while  preparations 
were  still  going  forward,  new  symptoms  never 
hitherto  observed,  were  noticeable  on  the  German 
line.  Straw  was  thrown  out  beyond  the  trenches 
and  was  being  sprinkled  with  a  kind  of  white 
powder  which  the  soldiers  say  resembled  salt. 
While  the  Russians  were  still  puzzling  about  the 
meaning  of  it  all,  fire  was  put  to  the  straw  in  a 
dozen  places.  Instantly  from  the  little  spots 
of  red  flame  spreading  in  both  directions  until 
the  line  of  twinkling  fire  was  continuous,  huge 
clouds  of  fleecy  white  smoke  rolled  up.  The 
officers  were  quick  to  realize  what  was  coming, 
-  159  - 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

and  instantly  the  word  was  passed  to  the  soldiers 
that  they  must  be  prepared  to  meet  a  new  kind 
of  attack.  After  a  rapid  consultation  and  ad- 
vice from  head-quarters  over  the  telephone,  it 
was  decided  that  it  would  be  best  for  our  men 
to  remain  absolutely  quiet  in  their  trenches, 
holding  their  fire  until  the  enemy  were  at  their 
barbed  wire  entanglements,  in  order  to  beguile 
the  Germans  into  the  belief  that  their  gases 
were  effective,  and  that  they  were  going  to  be 
able  to  occupy  the  Russian  trenches  without 
losing  a  man. 

Officers  and  non-commissioned  officers  went 
through  the  trenches  telling  the  soldiers  what 
they  must  expect,  and  imposing  silence  on  all, 
and  prohibiting  the  firing  of  a  gun  until  the 
enemy  were  almost  upon  them  when  they  were 
to  open  up  with  all  the  rapidity  of  fire  that 
they  could  command.  In  the  meantime  the 
wind  of  early  morning  air  was  rolling  the  cloud 
gently  toward  the   waiting   Russians. 

I  have  been  able  through  certain  channels, 
which  I  cannot  at  present  mention,  to  secure  a 
considerable  amount  of  information  as  to  the 
German  side  of  this  attack.  When  it  became 
known  in  the  trenches  of  the  enemy  that  these 
gases  were  to  be  used,  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  there  was  a  protest  from  the  soldiers  against 
it.  Many  of  the  Russians  are  charitable  enough 
—  i6o  — 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

to  take  the  point  of  view  that  the  common  soldier 
resorts  to  these  methods  because  he  is  forced  to 
do  so,   and  they  say  that  the  German  private 
rebelled  at  the  idea  of  using  so  hideous  a  method 
of  conducting  warfare.    Others,  while  they  accept 
the    story    of    the    soldiers'    opposition,    declare 
they  only  feared   the  effects    of    the    gas    upon 
themselves.     In  any  event  there  is  evidence  that 
their   officers   told   them    that    the    gas   was    a 
harmless  one,  and  would   simply  result  in  put- 
ting the  Russians  into  a  state  of  unconsciousness 
from  which  they  would  recover  in  a  few  hours, 
and  by  that  time  the  Germans  would  have  been 
able  to   take    their    trenches    without  the    loss 
of    a    man.     It    was    at    first  believed  that  the 
white    powder    placed    on    the    straw    was    the 
element  of  the  poison  gas,  but  it  later  appeared 
that    this    was    merely  to  produce    a   screen    of 
heavy  and    harmless    smoke    behind  which   the 
real  operations  could  be  conducted.     The  actual 
source  of  the  gas  was  in  the  trenches  themselves. 
Steel  cylinders  or  tanks  measuring  a  metre  in 
length  by  perhaps  6  inches  in  width  were  let  in  end 
downwards    into  the  floor  of  the    trench,   with 
perhaps  half  of  the  tanks  firmly  bedded  in  the 
ground.    At  the  head  of  the  cylinder  was  a  valve, 
and  from   this  ran  a  lead  pipe  over  the  top  of 
the  parapet  and  then  bent  downwards  with  the 
opening   pointed   to   the   ground.     These   tanks 

—  i6i  —  M 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

were  arranged  in  groups  of  batteries  the  unit  of 
which  was  ten  or  twelve,  each  tank  being  perhaps 
two  feet  from  its  neighbour.  Between  each  group 
was  a  space  of  twenty  paces.  I  have  not  been 
able  to  learn  the  exact  length  of  the  prepared 
trenches,  but  it  was  perhaps  nearly  a  kilometre 
long.  As  soon  as  their  line  was  masked  by  the 
volumes  of  the  screening  smoke,  these  taps  were 
turned  on  simultaneously  and  instantly  the 
thick  greenish  yellow  fumes  of  the  chloral  gas 
poured  in  expanding  clouds  upon  the  ground, 
spreading  like  a  mist  upon  the  face  of  the  earth. 
There  was  a  drift  of  air  in  the  direction  of  the 
Russian  trenches,  and  borne  before  this  the  poison 
rolled  like  a  wave  slowly  away  from  the  German 
line  toward  the  positions  of  the  Russians,  the 
gas  itself  seeking  out  and  filling  each  small  hol- 
low or  declivity  in  the  ground  as  surely  as  water, 
so  heavy  and  thick  was  its  composition.  When 
it  was  fairly  clear  of  their  own  line  the  Germans 
began  to  move,  all  the  men  having  first  been 
provided  with  respirators  that  they  might  not 
experience  the  effects  of  the  ''  harmless  and  pain- 
less "  gas  prepared  for  the  enemy.  Ahead  of 
the  attacking  columns  went  groups  of  sappers 
with  shears  to  cut  the  Russian  entanglements  ; 
and  behind  them  followed  the  masses  of  the 
German  infantry,  while  the  rear  was  brought  up, 
with  characteristic  foresight,  by  soldiers  bearing 

—  162  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

tanks  of  oxygen  to  assist  any  of  their  own  men 
who  became  unconscious  from  the  fumes. 

The  advance  started  somewhat  gingerly,  for  the 
soldiers  do  not  seem  to  have  had  the  same  confi- 
dence in  the  effects  of  the  gas  as  their  officers.  But 
as  they  moved  forward  there  was  not  a  sound 
from  the  Russian  trench,  and  the  word  ran  up 
and  down  the  German  line  that  there  would  be 
no  defence,  and  that  for  once  they  would  take  a 
Russian  position  without  the  loss  of  a  man.  One 
can  fancy  the  state  of  mind  of  the  German  troops 
in  these  few  minutes.  No  doubt  they  felt  that 
this  new ''  painless  "  gas  was  going  to  be  a  humane 
way  of  ending  the  war,  that  their  chemists  had 
solved  the  great  problem,  and  that  in  a  few  days 
they  would  be  marching  into  Warsaw.  Then 
they  reached  the  Russian  entanglements,  and 
without  warning  were  swept  into  heaps  and 
mounds  of  collapsing  bodies  by  the  torrent  of 
rifle  and  machine  gun  fire  which  came  upon  them 
from  every  loophole  and  cranny  of  the  Russian 
position. 

The  Russian  version  of  the  story  is  one  that  must 
inspire  the  troops  of  the  Allies,  as  it  has  inspired 
the  rest  of  the  army  over  here.  Some  time  before 
the  Germans  actually  approached,  the  green  yellow 
cloud  rolled  into  the  trenches  and  poured  itself 
in  almost  like  a  column  of  water ;  so  heavy  was 
it  that  it  almost  fell  to  the  floor  of  the  trenches. 

^163- 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

The  patient  Siberians  stood  without  a  tremor 
as  it  eddied  around  their  feet  and  swept  over 
their  faces  in  constantly  increasing  volumes. 
Thus  for  some  minutes  they  stood  wrapping  hand- 
kerchiefs about  their  faces,  stifling  their  sounds, 
and  uttering  not  a  word  while  dozens  fell  suffoca- 
ting into  the  trench.  Then  at  last  in  the  faint 
morning  light  could  be  seen  the  shadowy  figures 
of  the  Germans  through  the  mist ;  then  at  last 
discipline  and  self-control  were  released,  and 
every  soldier  opened  fire  pumping  out  his  cart- 
ridges from  his  rifle  as  fast  as  he  could  shoot. 
The  stories  of  heroism  and  fortitude  that  one 
hears  from  the  survivors  of  this  trench  are 
exceptional.  One  Siberian  who  was  working 
a  machine  gun  had  asked  his  comrade  to 
stand  beside  him  with  wet  rags  and  a  bucket  of 
water.  The  two  bodies  were  found  together, 
the  soldier  collapsed  over  the  machine  gun,  whose 
empty  cartridge  belt  told  the  story  of  the  man's 
last  effort  having  gone  to  work  his  gun,  while 
sprawling  over  the  upset  bucket  was  the  dead 
body  of  the  friend  who  had  stood  by  and  made 
his  last  task  possible. 

Oflicers  in  the  head-quarters  of  regiment  and 
divisions  tell  of  the  operators  at  the  telephones 
clinging  to  their  instruments  until  only  the  sounds 
of  their  choking  efforts  to  speak  came  over  the 
wire,  and  then  silence.  Some  were  found  dead 
—  164  — 


The  colours  of  the  Siberians, 


•,  « 


A?RIL   TO   AUGUST,    1916 

with  the  receivers  in  their  hands,  while  others 
were  discovered  clutching  muskets  fallen  from 
the  hands  of  the  infantry  that  had  succumbed. 
In  this  trying  ordeal  not  a  man,  soldier  or  officer 
budged  from  his  position.  To  a  man  they 
remained  firm,  some  overcome,  some  dying, 
and  others  already  dead.  So  faithful  were  they 
to  their  duty,  that  before  the  reserves  reached 
them  the  Germans  were  already  extricating 
themselves  from  their  own  dead  and  wounded, 
and  hurriedly  beating  a  retreat  toward  their 
own  lines.  From  the  rear  trenches  now  came, 
leaping  with  hoarse  shouts  of  fury,  the  columns 
of  the  Siberian  reserves.  Through  the  poisoned 
mist  that  curled  and  circled  at  their  feet,  they  ran, 
many  stumbling  and  falling  from  the  effect  of 
the  noxious  vapours.  When  they  reached  the  first 
line  trench,  the  enemy  was  already  straggling  back 
in  retreat,  a  retreat  that  probably  cost  them 
more  dearly  than  their  attack  ;  for  the  reserves, 
maddened  with  fury  poured  over  their  own 
trenches,  pursued  the  Germans,  and  with  clubbed 
rifle  and  bayonet  took  heavy  vengeance  for 
comrades  poisoned  and  dying  in  the  first  line 
trench.  So  furiously  did  the  Siberians  fall  upon 
the  Germans  that  several  positions  in  the  Ger- 
man line  were  occupied,  numbers  of  the  enemy 
who  chose  to  remain  dying  under  the  bayonet 
or  else  falling  on  their  knees  with  prayers  for 
-  165  - 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

mercy.  Somewhat  to  the  south  of  the  main  gas 
attack  there  came  a  change  in  the  wind,  and  the 
poisoned  fumes  blew  back  into  the  trenches  of 
the  Germans,  trenches  in  which  it  is  beheved  the 
occupants  were  not  equipped  with  respirators. 
The  Russians  in  opposite  hues  say  that  the  cries 
of  the  Germans  attacked  by  their  own  fumes 
were  something  horrible  to  listen  to,  and  their 
shrieks  could  have  been  heard  half  a  mile  away. 
Thus  ended  the  first  German  effort  to  turn 
the  Russians  out  of  their  positions  by  the  use 
of  a  method  which  their  rulers  had  pledged 
themselves  in  treaty  never  to  adopt.  The  net 
results  were  an  absolute  defeat  of  the  Germans, 
with  the  loss  of  several  of  their  own  positions, 
and  a  loss  in  dead  and  wounded  probably  three 
times  greater  than  was  suffered  by  the  Russians. 
Even  although  it  was  unexpected  and  unprepared 
for,  this  first  attempt  was  an  absolute  failure  ; 
the  only  result  being  an  increase  of  fury  on  the 
part  of  the  Russian  soldiers  that  makes  it  difficult 
to  keep  them  in  their  trenches,  so  eager  are  they 
to  go  over  and  bayonet  their  enemies. 


—  i66 


SOME  DETAILS  REGARDING  THE 
GAS  HORROR 


CHAPTER    XII 

SOME    DETAILS    REGARDING    THE 
GAS    HORROR 

Warsaw, 

June  8. 

EVER  since  my  return  from  the  southern 
armies  last  week  I  have  spent  practically 
my  entire  time  in  the  study  and  investigation 
of  the  newest  phase  of  frightfulness  as  practised 
by  the  German  authorities.  Ten  months  of 
war  and  an  earlier  experience  in  Manchuria 
of  what  misery  it  represents  even  when  con- 
ducted in  the  most  humane  way  have  not 
tended  to  make  me  over-sensitive  to  the  sights 
and  sufferings  which  are  the  inevitable  accom- 
paniment of  the  conflict  between  modern 
armies  ;  but  what  I  have  seen  in  the  last  week 
has  impressed  me  more  deeply  than  the  sum 
total  of  all  the  other  horrors  which  I  have  seen 
in  this  and  other  campaigns  combined.  The 
effects  of  the  new  war  methods  involve  hideous 
suffering  and  are  of  no  mihtary  value  whatsoever 
(if  results  on  this  front  are  typical) ;  while  they 
—  169  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

reduce  war  to  a  barbarity  and  cruelty  which 
could  not  be  justified  from  any  point  of  view, 
even  were  the  results  obtained  for  the  cause  of 
the  user  a  thousandfold  greater  than  they  have 
proved  to  be. 

I  found  on  my  return  from  the  south  the 
whole  of  Warsaw  in  a  fever  of  riotous  indigna- 
tion against  the  Germans  and  the  German  people 
as  the  result  of  the  arrival  of  the  first  block  of 
gas  victims  brought  in  from  the  Bzura  front. 
I  have  already  described  the  attack  made  on 
the  Russian  position,  its  absolute  failure,  and  the 
result  it  had  of  increasing  the  morale  of  the 
Russian  troops.  I  must  now  try  to  convey  to 
the  reader  an  idea  of  the  effects  which  I  have 
personally  witnessed  and  ascertained  by  first 
hand  investigation  of  the  whole  subject.  The 
investigation  has  taken  me  from  the  Warsaw 
hospitals,  down  through  the  various  army,  corps, 
division  and  regimental  head-quarters,  to  the 
advance  trenches  on  which  the  attack  was  actually 
made.  I  have  talked  with  every  one  possible, 
from  generals  to  privates,  and  from  surgeons  to 
the  nurses,  and  to  the  victims  themselves,  and 
feel,  therefore,  that  I  can  write  with  a  fair  degree 
of  authority. 

The  gas  itself,  I  was  told  at  the  front,  was 
almost  pure  chloral  fumes ;  but  in  the  hos- 
pitals here  they  informed  me  that  there  were 
—  170  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

indications  of  the  presence  of  a  small  trace  of 
bromine,  though  it  has  proved  somewhat  difficult 
to  make  an  exact  analysis.  The  effect  of  the 
gas  when  inhaled  is  to  cause  an  immediate  and 
extremely  painful  irritation  of  the  lungs  and  the 
bronchial  tubes,  which  causes  instantly  acute 
suffering.  The  gas,  on  reaching  the  lungs,  and 
coming  in  contact  with  the  blood,  at  once  causes 
congestion,  and  clots  begin  to  form  not  only  in 
the  lungs  themselves  but  in  the  blood-vessels 
and  larger  arteries,  while  the  blood  itself  becomes 
so  thick  that  it  is  with  great  difficulty  that  the 
heart  is  able  to  force  it  through  the  veins.  The 
first  effects,  then,  are  those  of  strangulation,  pains 
throughout  the  body  where  clots  are  forming, 
and  the  additional  misery  of  the  irritation  which 
the  acid  gases  cause  to  all  the  mucous  mem- 
branes to  which  it  is  exposed.  Some  of  the 
fatal  cases  were  examined  by  the  surgeons  on 
the  post-mortem  table,  and  it  was  found  that 
the  lungs  were  so  choked  with  coagulated  blood 
that,  as  one  doctor  at  the  front  told  me,  they 
resembled  huge  slabs  of  raw  liver  rather  than 
lungs  at  all.  The  heart  was  badly  strained 
from  the  endeavour  to  exert  its  functions  against 
such  obstacles,  and  death  had  resulted  from 
strangulation. 

Though    the     unfortunates     who     succumbed 
suffered    hideously,    their   lot   was   an  easy  one 
—  171  — 


tHlE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAION 

compared  to  the  lot  of  the  miserable  wretches 
who  lingered  on  and  died  later.  One  might 
almost  say  that  even  those  that  are  recover- 
ing have  suffered  so  excruciatingly  as  to  make 
life  dear  at  the  price.  Those  who  could 
be  treated  promptly  have  for  the  most  part 
struggled  back  to  life.  Time  only  will  show 
whether  they  recover  entirely,  but  from  evidence 
obtained,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  many  of  them 
will  be  restored  to  a  moderate  condition  of  good 
health  after  their  lungs  are  healed.  The  first 
treatment  employed  by  the  Russians  when  their 
patients  come  to  the  hospitals,  is  to  strip  them 
of  all  clothing,  give  them  a  hot  bath  and  put 
them  into  clean  garments.  This  is  done  for  the 
protection  of  the  nurses  as  well  as  of  the  victims, 
for  it  was  found  that  many  of  the  helpers  were 
overcome  by  the  residue  of  the  fumes  left  in 
the  clothing,  so  deadly  was  the  nature  of  the 
chemical  compound  used. 

Even  after  these  cases  were  brought  to 
Warsaw  and  put  into  clean  linen  pyjamas 
and  immaculate  beds,  the  gas  still  given  out 
from  their  lungs  as  they  exhaled  so  poisoned 
the  air  in  the  hospital  that  some  of  the  women 
nurses  were  affected  with  severe  headaches  and 
with  nausea.  From  this  it  may  be  gathered  that 
the  potency  of  the  chloral  compound  is  extremely 
deadly.  The  incredible  part  is,  that  out  of  the 
—  172  — 


Respirator  drill  in  the  trenches. 


Austrians  leaving  Przemysl. 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

thousands  affected,  hardly  a  thousand  died  in 
the  trenches,  and  of  the  1,300  to  1,500  brought 
to  Warsaw,  only  2  per  cent,  have  died  to  date. 
It  is  probably  true  that  the  Russian  moujik 
soldier  is  the  hardiest  individual  in  Europe ; 
add  to  this  the  consideration  that  for  ten  months 
none  of  them  have  been  touching  alcohol, 
which  is  probably  one  reason  for  their  astonish- 
ing vitality  in  fighting  this  deadly  poison  and 
struggling  back  to  life. 

After  the  victims  are  washed,  every  effort  is 
made  to  relieve  the  congestion.  Mustard  plasters 
are  applied  to  the  feet,  while  camphor  injections 
are  given  hypodermically,  and  caffeine  or,  in 
desperate  cases,  digitalis  is  given  to  help  the 
heart  keep  up  its  task  against  the  heavy  odds. 
Next  blood  is  drawn  from  the  patient  and 
quantities  of  salt  and  water  injected  in  the  veins 
to  take  its  place  and  to  dilute  what  remains.  In 
the  severer  cases  I  am  told  that  the  blood  even 
from  the  arteries  barely  flows,  and  comes  out 
a  deep  purple  and  almost  as  viscous  as  molasses. 
In  the  far-gone  cases  it  refuses  to  flow  at  all. 

The  victims  that  die  quickly  are  spared  the 
worst  effects,  but  those  that  linger  on  and  finally 
succumb  suffer  a  torture  which  the  days  of  the 
Inquisition  can  hardly  parallel.  Many  of  them 
have  in  their  efforts  to  breathe  swallowed  quanti- 
ties of  the  gas,  and  in  these  cases,  which  seem  to 
—  173  — 


THE  RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

be  common,  post-mortems  disclose  the  fact  that 
great  patches  in  their  stomachs  and  in  their 
intestines  have  been  eaten  almost  raw  by  the 
action  of  the  acid  in  the  gas.  These  men  then 
die  not  only  of  strangulation,  which,  in  itself,  is  a 
slow  torture,  but  in  their  last  moments  their 
internal  organs  are  slowly  being  eaten  away  by 
the  acids  which  they  have  taken  into  their 
stomachs.  Several  of  the  doctors  have  told 
me  that  in  these  instances  the  men  go  violently 
mad  from  sheer  agony,  and  that  many  of  them 
must  be  held  in  their  beds  by  force  to  prevent 
them  from  leaping  out  of  the  windows  or  running 
amok  in  the  hospitals.  It  is  hard  to  still  them 
with  sufficient  morphine  to  deaden  the  pain 
without  giving  an  overdose,  with  the  result  that 
many  of  the  poor  fellows  probably  suffer  until 
their  last  gasp. 

This  then  is  the  physical  effect  which  is 
produced  on  the  victims  of  Germany's  latest 
device  to  win  the  war.  I  have  been  in  many 
of  the  hospitals,  and  I  have  never  in  my  life 
been  more  deeply  moved  than  by  the  pathetic 
spectacle  of  these  magnificent  specimens  of 
manhood  lying  on  their  beds  writhing  in  pain 
or  gasping  for  breath,  each  struggle  being  a 
torture.  The  Russians  endure  suffering  with  a 
stoicism  that  is  heartbreaking  to  observe,  and  I 
think  it  would  surely  touch  even  the  most 
—  174  — 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

cynical  German  chemist  were  he  to  see  his 
victims,  purple  in  the  face,  lips  frothed  with 
red  from  bleeding  lungs,  with  head  thrown  back 
and  teeth  clenched  to  keep  back  the  groans 
of  anguish,  as  they  struggle  against  the  subtle 
poison  that  has  been  taken  into  their  system. 
One  poor  fellow  said  to  the  nurse  as  she  sat  by 
his  bed  and  held  his  hand,  ''  Oh,  if  the  German 
Kaiser  could  but  suffer  the  pain  that  I  do  he 
would  never  inflict  this  torture  upon  us.  Surely 
there  must  be  a  horrible  place  prepared  for  him 
in  the  hereafter.'' 

The  effect  upon  the  troops  at  the  front  who 
have  seen  the  sufferings  of  their  fellows  or 
who  have  had  a  touch  of  it  themselves,  has 
been  quite  extraordinary.  Some  of  the  more 
cynical  say  that  the  German  idea  involved  this 
suffering  as  a  part  of  their  campaign  of  fright- 
fulness,  their  belief  being  that  it  would  strike 
panic  to  the  hearts  of  all  the  soldiers  that  beheld 
it  and  result  in  the  utter  demoralization  of  the 
Russian  Army.  If  this  be  true  the  German 
psychologists  never  made  a  more  stupid  blunder, 
for  in  this  single  night's  work  they  have  built  up 
for  themselves  in  the  heart  of  every  Russian 
moujik  a  personal  hatred  and  detestation  that 
has  spread  like  wildfire  in  all  parts  of  the  army 
and  has  made  the  Russian  troops  infinitely 
fiercer  both  in  attack  and  in  defence  than  at 

—  175  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

any  other  period  in  the  war.  Not  a  soldier  or 
officer  with  whom  I  have  talked  has  shown  the 
smallest  sign  of  fear  for  the  future,  and  all  are 
praying  for  an  opportunity  to  exact  a  vengeance. 

Unfortunately  in  the  next  attacks  in  which 
this  just  fury  will  be  in  evidence,  it  will  be  the 
unfortunate  German  soldier  who  must  pay  the 
price  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  while  the  cold- 
blooded wretches  who  worked  it  all  out  will 
go  scot  free  from  the  retribution  which  the  Rus- 
sians intend  to  administer  with  cold  steel  and 
the  butt  end  of  their  muskets.  In  the  meantime 
the  Russians  have  taken  steps  which  will  in  all 
probability  render  future  attacks  practically 
innocuous.  Every  soldier  is  receiving  a  respira- 
tor, a  small  mask  soaked  in  some  chemical 
preparation  and  done  up  in  an  air-tight  packet 
ready  for  use.  The  preparation,  it  is  believed, 
will  keep  out  the  fumes  for  at  least  an  hour.  It 
is  highly  improbable  that  any  such  period  will 
elapse  before  the  gases  are  dissipated  by  the 
wind  ;  but  in  any  event  extra  quantities  of  the 
solution  will  be  kept  in  the  trenches  to  enable 
the  soldiers  to  freshen  their  masks  if  the  gases 
are  not  cleared  up  within  an  hour. 

In  addition  to   this,   open  ditches  will  be  dug 

in    the   trenches   and    filled   with    water,    which 

will    promptly    suck     up    the   gas     that    would 

otherwise     linger     on     indefinitely.      It    is   also 

—  176  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

proposed  to  strew  straw  in  front  of  the  posi- 
tions and  to  sprinkle  it  with  water  before  an 
attack  with  the  gases  in  order  to  take  up  as 
much  of  the  poison  as  possible  before  it  reaches 
the  trenches  at  all.  When  one  remembers  that 
though  the  first  attack  came  without  any  pre- 
parations being  made  to  meet  it,  and  was  an 
absolutely  new  experience  to  the  Russians,  it 
yet  failed  overwhelmingly,  I  think  one  need 
feel  no  anxiety  as  to  the  results  which  will 
follow  the  next  attack  when  every  preparation 
has  been  made  by  the  Russians  to  receive 
it. 

I  have  dwelt  at  some  length  on  the  subject  of 
the  poisoned  gases,  but  as  there  is  available 
evidence  to  indicate  that  the  Germans  are  plan- 
ning to  make  this  an  important  feature  of  their 
campaign,  it  seems  worth  while  to  bring  before 
the  attention  of  the  outside  world  all  of  the  con- 
sequences which  the  use  of  this  practice  involve. 
I  hear  now  from  excellent  sources  that  the 
Germans  are  equipping  a  large  plant  at  Plonsk 
for  the  express  purpose  of  making  poison  gases 
on  a  large  scale.  In  what  I  have  written  before 
I  have  only  mentioned  the  bearing  of  the 
gas  on  strictly  military  operations,  but  there 
is  another  consideration  to  be  noticed  in  this 
new  practice,  and  that  is  the  effect  which 
it  has,    and    will    have    increasingly,    upon    the 

—  177  —  N 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

unfortunate  peasant  and  civil  population  whose 
miserable  fate  it  is  to  live  behind  the  lines. 

I  am  not  aware  of  the  nature  and  potency 
of  the  gas  used  in  the  West,  but  I  read  recently 
in  the  paper  that  it  was  so  deadly  that  its 
effects  were  observable  a  full  mile  from  the 
line  of  battle.  Over  here  they  were  notice- 
able 25  miles  from  the  line,  and  individuals 
were  overcome  as  far  away  as  14  versts 
from  the  positions.  The  General  commanding 
the  —  Siberian  Corps  told  me  that  the  sentry 
before  his  gate  fell  to  the  ground  from  inhaling 
the  poisoned  air,  though  his  head-quarters  is 
more  than  10  miles  away  from  the  point  where 
the  Germans  turned  loose  their  fiendish  invention. 
The  General  commanding  the  — th  Division  of 
this  same  Siberian  Corps,  against  whom  the  attack 
was  made,  told  me  that  the  gases  reached  his 
head-quarters  exactly  ij  hours  after  it  passed 
the  positions  which  he  told  me  were  between 
5  and  6  versts  from  the  house  in  which  he 
lived.  In  the  morning  the  fumes  lay  like  a 
mist  on  the  grass,  and  later  in  the  day  they  were 
felt  with  sufficient  potency  to  cause  nausea  and 
headaches  at  Grodisk,  30  versts  from  the  trenches. 
Everywhere  I  was  told  of  the  suffering  and  panic 
among  the  peasants,  who  came  staggering  in 
from  every  direction  to  the  Russian  Red  Cross 
stations  and  head-quarters.  These,  of  course, 
—  178  — 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

were  not  as  severely  stricken  as  the  troops  in 
the  front  Hnes,  and  as  far  as  I  know  none  of  them 
have  died,  but  hundreds  were  being  cared  for 
by  the  Russian  authorities,  and  among  these  I 
am  told  were  many  women  and  children. 

In  fact  it  is  but  logical  to  expect  the  greatest 
suffering  in  the  future  to  be  among  children, 
for  the  gas  hangs  very  low,  and  where  a  six  foot 
man  might  keep  his  nose  clear  of  the  fumes,  a 
child  of  two  or  three  years  old  would  be  almost 
sure  to  perish.  The  live  stock  suffered  more  or 
less,  but  there  seems  to  have  been  a  great  difference 
in  the  effects  of  the  gases  upon  different  kinds  of 
animals.  Horses  were  driven  almost  frantic, 
cows  felt  it  much  less,  and  pigs  are  said  not  to 
have  been  bothered  appreciably.  In  its  effects 
on  plants  and  flowers  one  notices  a  great  range  of 
results  among  different  varieties.  Pansies  were 
slightly  wilted,  snapdragons  absolutely,  while 
certain  little  blue  flowers  whose  name  I  do  not 
know  were  scarcely  affected  at  all.  Some  of 
the  tips  of  the  grasses  were  coloured  brown, 
while  leaves  on  some  trees  were  completely 
destitute  of  any  colour  at  all.  I  cannot  explain 
the  varying  effects.  I  have  in  my  pocket  a  leaf 
two-thirds  of  which  is  as  white  as  a  piece  of  writing 
paper  while  the  remaining  third  is  as  green  as 
grass.  On  the  same  tree  some  leaves  were  killed 
and  others  not  affected  at  all.  The  effects  also 
—  179  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

vary  greatly  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
From  what  I  could  observe  the  gas  had  flowed 
to  all  the  low  places  where  it  hung  for  hours. 
In  the  woods  it  is  said  to  have  drifted  about  with 
bad  effects  that  lasted  for  several  days. 

What  I  have  described  above  is  the  first  effect 
on  the  country,  but  if  the  Germans  are  to  continue 
this  practice  for  the  rest  of  the  summer  I  think 
there  must  be  effects  which  in  the  end  will  result 
in  far  more  injury  to  the  peasants  who  are  not 
prepared,  than  to  the  soldiers  who  are  taught 
how  to  combat  the  gases.  In  the  first  place  it 
seems  extremely  probable  that  this  gas  flowing 
to  the  low  places  will  almost  invariably  settle 
in  the  lakes,  marshes  and  all  bodies  of  still 
water  within  20  to  30  versts  of  the  line.  I  am 
not  sufficiently  well  grounded  in  chemistry  to 
speak  authoritatively,  but  it  seems  not  improbable 
that  the  effect  of  this  will  be  gradually  to  trans- 
form every  small  body  of  water  in  this  vicinity 
into  a  diluted  solution  of  hydrochloric  acid,  a 
solution  which  will  become  more  and  more 
concentrated  with  every  wave  of  gas  that  passes 
over  the  country-side.  If  this  be  the  case 
Poland  may  perhaps  see  huge  numbers  of  its 
horses,  cows  and  other  live  stock  slowly  poisoned 
by  chloral  while  the  inhabitants  may  experience 
a  similar  fate.  With  wet  weather  and  moist 
soil  will  come  a  period  when  the  chloral  will  go 
—  180  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

into  the  earth  in  large  quantities.  I  do  not  know 
what  effect  this  will  have  on  the  future  of  the 
crops,  but  I  imagine  that  it  will  not  help  the 
harvest  this  year,  while  its  deleterious  effects 
may  extend  over  many  to  come.  In  other 
words  it  seems  as  though  the  Germans  in  order 
to  inflict  a  possible  military  damage  on  the 
Russians  are  planning  a  campaign,  the  terrible 
effects  of  which  will  fall  for  the  most  part  not 
on  the  soldiers  at  all  but  on  the  harmless  non- 
combatants  who  live  in  the  rear  of  the  lines. 
This  practice  is  as  absolutely  unjustifiable  as  that 
of  setting  floating  mines  loose  at  sea  on  the 
possible  chance  of  sinking  an  enemy  ship,  the 
probability  being  ten  to  one  that  the  victim 
will  prove  an  innocent  one. 

We  are  now  facing  over  here,  and  I  suppose 
in  the  West  as  well,  a  campaign  of  poisoned  air, 
the  effect  of  which  upon  the  military  situation 
will  be  neutralized  by  reprisals  ;  but  at  the  same 
time  this  campaign  is  going  to  increase  the  suffer- 
ing and  misery  of  the  soldiers  a  hundred  per  cent., 
and  in  its  ultimate  results  bring  more  misery  to 
the  populations  in  the  various  regions  near  the 
lines  than  has  ever  been  experienced  in  any 
previous  war.  It  must  be  reasonably  clear  to 
the  Germans  by  now  that  their  scheme  to  terrorize 
has  failed,  and  that  their  aim  of  inflicting  vast 
damage  has  fallen  to  the  ground.  W^en  reprisals 
—  i8i  — 


THE    RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN 

come,  as  they  must  if  Germany  continues  this 
inhuman  policy,  she  will,  without  having  gained 
anything  whatsoever  from  her  experiment,  cause 
needlessly  the  deaths  of  thousands  of  her  own 
soldiers,  as  well  as  suffering  and  devastation 
among  the  rural  classes.  It  does  seem  as  though, 
when  the  German  policy  is  so  clearly  unfruitful, 
it  should  be  possible  through  the  medium  of  some 
neutral  country  to  reach  an  agreement  providing 
for  the  entire  discontinuance  on  all  fronts  of 
this  horrible  practice.  Certainly,  when  there 
are  so  many  thousands  of  innocents  who  must 
suffer  by  its  continuance,  it  would  be  well  worth 
the  while  of  the  authorities  in  the  different  coun- 
tries to  consider  the  possibility  mentioned  before 
resorting  to  the  use  of  this  deadly  weapon,  which 
often  proves  as  dangerous  to  the  users  as  to  the 
enemy  against  whom  it  is  directed. 


—  182  — 


THE  BZURA  FRONT  IN  JUNE 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THE    BZURA    FRONT    IN    JUNE 

Dated  : 
Warsaw, 

June  9. 

SOME  one  has  said  that  there  is  nothing 
more  monotonous  than  war.  After  ten 
months  of  almost  continuous  contact  with  its 
various  phenomena,  and  week  after  week  spent 
in  the  same  atmosphere,  where  one  is  always 
surrounded  by  the  same  types  of  men  in  the 
same  uniforms,  the  same  transport,  the  same 
guns,  the  same  Red  Cross,  and  in  fact  everything 
the  same  in  general  appearance,  it  becomes  very 
difficult  to  get  up  new  interest  in  the  surround- 
ings, and  that  deadly  monotony  of  even  the  hap- 
penings makes  it  increasingly  difficult  to  write 
about  it.  The  types  of  country  vary  here  and 
trenches  are  not  after  one  pattern,  but  after  one 
has  seen  a  few  dozen  even  of  these  there  is  a 
good  deal  of  sameness  in  it  all.  I  have  not 
been  on  the  Bzura  Front,  however,  since  Janu- 
ary, and  as  little  has  been  wiitten  about  it  by 

-185  - 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

any  one  else  since  the  big  January-February 
attacks  on  the  Bohmov  positions,  it  may  be 
worth  devoting  a  short  chapter  to  it,  describing 
its  appearance  in  summer. 

The  last  time  that  I  was  out  here  was  in  Jan- 
uary, when  the  ground  was  deep  in  snow  and 
slush,  and  the  soldiers  muffled  to  their  ears  to 
keep  out  the  biting  winds  that  swept  across  the 
country.  Now  the  whole  army,  that  is  not  fight- 
ing or  otherwise  occupied,  is  luxuriously  bask- 
ing in  the  sunshine,  or  idling  under  the  shade 
of  the  trees.  The  poisonous  gas  campaigns,  of 
which  I  have  already  written  at  length,  having 
been  started  on  our  Bzura  line,  seemed  to  justify 
a  visit  to  the  positions  here  in  order  that  I  might 
speak  with  some  degree  of  accuracy  as  to  the 
effects  of  this  newest  German  method  of  warfare, 
from  the  trenches,  where  the  attacks  were  made, 
down  through  the  varying  stages  to  the  last, 
where  one  found  the  victims  struggling  for  breath 
in  the  Warsaw  hospitals. 

Leaving  Warsaw  early  in  the  morning  I  went 
to  the  head-quarters  of  the  army  immediately 
before  Warsaw,  and  on  explaining  my  desires, 
every  possible  means  of  assistance  was  placed 
at  my  disposal  including  an  extra  automobile 
and  an  officer  interpreter.  From  the  army  head- 
quarters we  sped  over  a  newly-built  road  to 
the  head-quarters  of  that  army  corps  which  is 
__  i86  — • 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

defending  the  line  of  the  Rawka,  where  the 
chief  medical  officer  obligingly  placed  at  my 
disposal  all  the  information  which  he  possessed 
of  the  General  commanding  that  particular 
Siberian  army  corps  on  whom  the  experiment 
was  first  tried.  This  man,  an  officer  of  high 
rank,  was  living  in  a  small  white  cottage  stand- 
ing by  the  side  of  a  second  rate  country  road, 
without  a  single  tree  to  protect  it  from  the 
rays  of  the  sun  which  in  the  afternoon  was 
beating  down  on  it  with  a  heat  that  could  be 
seen  as  it  shimmered  up  from  the  baking  earth, 
barren  of  grass  or  any  green  thing.  Here  was 
a  man,  commanding  perhaps  40,000  troops,  living 
in  one  of  the  bleakest  spots  I  have  seen  in  Poland, 
with  nothing  but  a  tiny  head-quarters  flag  and 
dozens  of  telephone  wires  running  in  from  all 
directions  to  denote  that  he  was  directing  a 
command  greater  than  a  battalion. 

As  the  greatest  indignation  prevails  throughout 
the  army  on  the  gas  subject,  I  found  the  officers 
here  very  eager  to  help  me  in  my  investiga- 
tions, and  the  General  immediately  telephoned 
to  the  division  head-quarters  that  we  would  visit 
them  and  asked  that  an  officer  might]  be  pro- 
vided to  take  us  forward  to  the  positions  where 
the  heaviest  losses  occurred.  So  once  more  we 
took  to  our  motor  car,  and  for  another  6  versts, 
across  fields  and  down  avenues  of  trees,  we  sped 
—  187  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

until  at  last  we  turned  off  sharply  into  the  coun- 
try estate  of  some  landed  proprietor  where  were 
living  the  staff  of  the  — th  division.  These  for- 
tunate men  were  much  better  off  than  their  com- 
mander, for  in  a  lovely  villa,  with  a  lake  shimmer- 
ing like  a  sheet  of  silver  in  the  sunlight  behind  the 
terrace  on  which  the  officers  could  have  their  coffee 
in  the  evenings,  the  General  and  his  suite  lived. 
A  delightful  little  Captain,  who  seemed  to  be  in 
charge  of  our  programme,  led  us  to  a  window  and 
pointing  to  a  windmill  in  an  adjacent  field  re- 
marked :  ''  The  German  artillery  reaches  just  to 
that  point.  From  the  time  you  leave  there 
until  you  reach  the  trenches  you  will  be  con- 
tinually within  the  range  of  their  guns  and  for 
most  of  the  time  within  plain  sight  of  their  ob- 
servers in  their  gun  positions.  However,  if  you 
insist  we  shall  be  glad  to  let  you  go.  Probably 
they  will  not  fire  on  you,  and  if  they  do  I  think 
they  will  not  hit  you.  An  automobile  is  a  diffi- 
cult target.'' 

With  this  doubtful  assurance  we  started  out 
again,  this  time  heading  for  regimental  head-quar- 
ters, which  we  were  told  was  a  mile  behind  the 
trenches.  A  few  miles  further,  and  we  came  on 
several  battalions  in  reserve  near  a  little  village. 
A  small  orchard  here  gave  them  shelter  from  ob- 
servation, and  after  their  trying  ordeal  a  few  days 
before,  they  were  resting  luxuriously  on  the  grass, 
—  i88  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

many  of  them  lying  flat  on  their  backs  in  the 
shade  fast  asleep  while  everywhere  were  piled 
their  rifles.  These  sturdy  self-respecting  Siberian 
troops  are  the  cream  of  the  army  and  physic- 
ally as  fine  specimens  of  manhood  as  I  have 
ever  seen  anywhere.  From  this  point  we  turned 
sharply  west  and  ran  at  top  speed  down  an 
avenue  of  trees  to  a  little  bridge,  where  we 
left  the  car  effectively  concealed  behind  a  clump 
of  trees.  At  least  that  was  the  intention,  and 
one  in  which  the  chauffeur  and  his  orderly  com- 
panion took  great  interest  as  one  could  see  by 
the  careful  scrutiny  that  they  gave  the  land- 
scape and  then  their  cover. 

Personally  I  think  this  is  the  meanest  country 
to  get  about  in  during  the  day  time  that  I  can 
possibly  imagine.  It  is  almost  as  flat  as  a  billiard 
table,  and  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  if  you  lay  down 
in  the  road  you  could  see  a  black  pin  sticking 
up  in  it  a  mile  away.  Everything  around  you 
is  as  still  as  death  for  perhaps  ten  minutes.  The 
sun  shines,  butterflies  flit  about  and  an  occa- 
sional bee  goes  droning  past.  There  is  noth- 
ing whatever  to  suggest  the  possibility  of  war. 
You  think  it  is  a  mistake  and  that  you  are 
at  least  twenty  miles  from  the  Front  ;  then 
you  hear  a  deep  detonation  not  far  away  and  a 
great  smoking  crater  in  a  field  near  by  indicates 
where    a    heavy   shell    has    burst.     Again    there 

—  189  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

is  absolute  silence  for  perhaps  twenty  minutes, 
when  a  sharp  report  not  far  away  causes  you 
to  look  quickly  toward  a  grove  of  trees  in  a  neigh- 
bouring field  where  you  discover  one  of  the  Rus- 
sian batteries.  Leaving  our  motor  we  walk  across 
a  field  and  approach  the  site  of  a  destroyed  village, 
if  a  cluster  of  six  or  eight  little  cottages  could 
ever  have  been  dignified  by  that  name.  Now  only 
a  chimney  here,  or  a  few  walls  there,  indicates 
where  once  stood  this  little  group  of  homes. 
In  one  of  the  ruins,  like  a  dog  in  an  ash-heap, 
lives  the  Colonel  of  the  — th  Siberian  with  his 
staff.  Behind  a  wall  left  standing  is  a  table 
and  a  few  chairs,  and  dug  out  of  the  corner  is 
a  bomb  proof  where  converge  telephones  from 
the  trenches  in  which  are  his  troops.  Here 
he  has  been  living  since  the  middle  of  last 
January. 

The  village  was  destroyed  months  and  months 
ago,  and  clearly  as  it  is  in  the  line  of  German 
observation  it  seems  to  provide  a  comparatively 
safe  retreat  for  the  ofiicers,  though  as  one  of 
them  remarked  quite  casually,  ''  They  dropped 
thirty-five  shells  round  us  yesterday,  but  you 
see  nothing  much  came  of  it.''  Absolute  in- 
difference to  these  situations  is  the  keynote  at 
the  Front,  and  good  form  makes  one  refrain 
from  asking  the  numerous  questions  as  to  the 
exact  location  of  the  enemy,  whether  or  not 
—  190  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

they  can  see  us,  and  other  subjects  which,  at 
the  moment,  seem  to  us  of  first-class  im- 
portance. However,  we  reahze  that  good 
taste  requires  that  we  assume  the  same  casual 
attitude,  and  so  we  sit  for  half  an  hour, 
smoke  cigarettes  and  quietly  hope  that  the 
enemy  will  chose  some  other  target  than  this 
for  their  afternoon  practice  which,  as  one  of 
the  officers  remarked,  ''  Usually  begins  about 
this  hour  in  the  afternoon/' 

Personally  I  hate  poking  around  in  the  broad 
daylight  in  this  fiat  country,  but  as  I  wanted 
to  see  the  position  where  the  gas  was  used 
and  did  not  want  to  wait  until  night,  and  as 
the  Colonel  was  perfectly  agreeable,  I  sug- 
gested that  we  should  proceed  forthwith  to 
the  positions.  Before  starting  we  were  told 
that  up  to  a  few  weeks  ago  no  one  ever  used 
the  road  in  the  daytime,  because  of  its  ex- 
posure to  rifle  and  artillery  fire.  "  But  now," 
as  the  Colonel  said,  ''  for  some  reason  or  other 
they  are  not  shooting  at  individuals.  Prob- 
ably they  are  saving  their  ammunition  for  Gali- 
cia.  So  if  we  walk  apart  we  shall  not  be  in 
much  danger.  Anyway  a  man  or  two  would  be 
hard  to  hit  with  rifle  fire,  and  their  artillery  is 
rather  poor  here,  and  even  if  they  fire  at  us  I 
think  we  shall  not  be  killed.''  We  thanked  him 
for  his  optimism  and  all  started  off  down  the 
—  191  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

road  that  led  to  the  positions.  In  view  of  his 
suggestion  about  individuals  being  safe,  I  was 
not  particularly  happy  when  five  officers  who 
had  nothing  else  to  do  joined  us.  The  first 
half  mile  of  the  road  led  down  an  avenue  of 
trees  which  effectively  screened  us.  After  that 
the  trees  stopped  and  the  great  white  road, 
elevated  about  5  feet  above  the  surrounding 
country,  impressed  me  as  being  the  most  con- 
spicuous topographical  feature  that  I  had  seen 
in  Poland.  There  was  not  a  bit  of  brush  as 
big  as  a  tooth-pick  to  conceal  our  party  walk- 
ing serenely  down  the  highway. 

After  we  had  got  about  200  yards  on  this  cause- 
way the  Colonel  stopped  and  pointed  with  his 
stick  at  a  group  of  red  brick  buildings.  ''  The 
Germans  were  there,''  translated  the  interpreter. 
"  My,"  I  ejaculated  in  enthusiasm  at  the  idea 
that  they  had  gone,  "  when  did  we  retake  the 
position  ?  "  "  Oh,''  replied  the  interpreter  officer, 
"  not  yet.  They  are  still  there."  "  Ah  !  "  I 
said,  lighting  a  cigarette,  that  my  interest  might 
not  seem  too  acute,  ''  I  should  think  they  could 
see  us."  The  linguist  spoke  a  few  words  to  the 
Colonel  and  then  replied,  ''  Oh,  yes,  every  move 
we  make,  but  the  Colonel  thinks  they  will  not 
shoot."  I  looked  over  at  the  brick  buildings, 
behind  which  were  the  German  artillery  posi- 
tions, and  I  could  swear  they  were  not  2,000 
—  192  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

yards  away,  while  a  line  of  dirt  nearer  still 
showed  the  infantry  trenches.  For  myself  I  felt 
as  large  as  an  elephant,  and  to  my  eyes  our  party 
seemed  as  conspicuous  as  Barnum's  circus  on 
parade.  However  we  continued  our  afternoon 
stroll  to  the  reserve  trenches,  where  a  soldier  or 
two  joined  our  group.  Five  or  six  hundred 
yards  up  the  road  was  the  barricade  thrown 
across,  held  by  the  first  line.  An  occasional 
crack  of  a  rifle  reminded  us  that  the  look- 
outs in  our  trenches  were  studying  the  move- 
ments in  the  German  trenches  a  few  hundred 
yards  beyond.  Finally  we  left  the  road  and 
came  over  a  field  and  into  the  rear  of  our  own 
position,  and  to  the  scene  of  the  German  gas 
attacks  four  or  five  days  before. 

Life  in  the  trenches  has  become  such  an 
everyday  affair  to  these  sunburned,  brawny 
soldiers  from  Siberia  that  they  seem  to  have 
no  more  feeling  of  anxiety  than  if  they  were 
living  in  their  own  villages  far,  far  to  the  East. 
In  spite  of  the  fact  that  they  have  steadily 
borne  the  brunt  of  terrible  attacks,  and  even 
now  are  under  the  shadow  of  the  opposing 
lines,  which  are  thoroughly  equipped  with  the 
mechanism  for  dispensing  poisoned  air,  they  are 
as  gay  and  cheerful  as  schoolboys  on  a  vaca- 
tion. I  have  never  seen  such  healthy,  high- 
spirited  soldiers  in  my  life.  The  trenches  have 
—  193  —  o 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

been  so  cleaned  up  that  a  house  wife  could  find 
no  fault  with  them. 

These  homes  of  the  soldiers  have  every  appear- 
ance of  being  swept  daily.  The  apprehension 
felt  in  the  winter  of  hygienic  conditions  when 
the  spring  came  have  no  ground  whatever,  and 
I  am  told  on  the  very  highest  authority  that 
in  this  army  the  sickness,  other  than  that  com- 
ing from  wounds,  is  less  than  for  the  months 
that  preceded  the  war  itself.  The  Colonel  ex- 
plained to  us  the  use  of  the  respirators  with 
which  every  soldier  is  provided,  and  for  our  bene- 
fit had  one  of  the  soldiers  fitted  with  one  that 
he  might  be  photographed  to  illustrate  for  the 
West  what  sort  of  protection  is  being  supplied 
to  the  men  on  this  side.  After  spending  half 
to  three-quarters  of  an  hour  wandering  about 
in  the  trenches  and  meeting  the  officers  who  live 
there  we  returned  to  the  regimental  head-quar- 
ters. The  sun  was  just  setting,  and  as  we  strolled 
back  over  the  open  causeway  in  its  last  red  glow 
a  great  German  battery  suddenly  came  into 
action  somewhere  off  to  the  west  and  north  of  us, 
and  we  could  hear  the  heavy  detonations  of  its 
huge  shells  falling  in  a  nearby  wood. 

When  we  got  back  to  the  regimental  head-quarters 

I  could  see  their  target,  which  seemed  to  be  nothing 

more  than  a  big  field.     Every  few  minutes  an 

enormous  shell  would  drop  in  the  meadow.     For 

—  194  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

an  instant  there  would  be  but  a  little  dust  where 
it  hit  the  ground,  then  suddenly  a  great  spout 
of  earth  and  dust  and  volumes  of  dirty  brown 
smoke  would  leap  into  the  air  like  the  eruption 
of  a  volcano,  and  then  the  heavy  sound  of  the 
explosion  would  reach  our  ears,  while  for  two 
or  three  minutes  the  crater  would  smoke  as 
though  the  earth  itself  were  being  consumed  by 
hidden  fires.  As  it  was  coming  late  we  did  not 
linger  long  at  the  head-quarters  but  took  to  our 
car  and  sped  up  the  avenue  of  trees  which  lay 
directly  parallel  to  the  point  where  the  shells 
were  bursting.  The  sun  had  set  now,  and  in  the 
after  glow  we  passed  once  more  the  camps  of 
the  reserves  squatting  about  their  little  twink- 
ling fires  built  in  the  earth  to  mask  them  from 
the  sight  of  the  enemy.  In  half  an  hour  we  were 
back  once  more  in  the  villa  of  the  General  of 
the  division,  an  enormous  man  of  six  feet  three, 
whose  cross  of  St.  George  of  the  first  class  was 
given  for  a  heroic  record  in  Manchuria  where  the 
General,  then  a  Colonel,  was  three  times  wounded 
by  Japanese  bullets.  Sitting  on  his  terrace  he 
gave  us  more  details  in  regard  to  the  usages  of 
the  gas  against  his  troops.  Though  they  were 
6  versts  from  the  Front,  everyone  in  his  head- 
quarters had  been  affected  with  nausea  and  head- 
aches, so  potent  were  the  fumes  of  the  chloral 
that  for  hours  lay  like  a  miasmic  mist  in  the 
—  195  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

grounds  and  garden  of  the  estate.  The  General, 
who  is  a  very  kindly  giant,  shook  his  head  sadly 
as  he  spoke  of  the  Germans.  I  think  the  Rus- 
sians are  a  very  charitable  people  and  nearly 
all  the  men  with  whom  I  have  talked  lay  the 
blame  of  this  outrage  on  civilization  against  the 
authorities  and  not  against  the  men,  who,  they 
imderstand,  are  bitterly  opposed  to  its  use.  When 
I  asked  the  General  what  he  thought  of  the 
German  point  of  view  of  war,  he  sat  for  a  few 
moments  looking  out  over  the  lovely  garden 
with  the  little  lake  that  lay  before  us. 

''  They  have  an  extraordinary  point  of  view," 
he  said  at  last.  Then  he  rose  quickly  from  his 
chair  and  brought  from  a  corner  of  the  balcony 
a  belt  captured  in  some  skirmish  of  the  morning. 
He  held  it  up  for  me  to  see  the  big  buckle  and 
with  his  finger  pointed  to  the  words:  '' Gott 
MiT  Uns.''  Then  with  a  smile  more  significant 
than  words  he  tossed  it  back  into  the  corner. 
Yes,  truly,  the  German  point  of  view  is  an 
extraordinary  one. 


196  — 


THE  GALICIAN  FRONT 


CHAPTER    XIV 
THE    GALICIAN    FRONT 

Dated : 

ROVNA, 

June  26,  1915. 

IN  a  few  weeks  a  year  will  have  passed  since 
the  Imperial  German  Government  began 
issuing  its  series  of  declarations  of  war  against 
one  country  after  another — declarations  which 
as  time  elapses  are  assuming  the  aspect  of  hostih- 
ties  not  only  against  individual  countries,  but 
against  practically  all  that  modern  civilization 
had  come  to  represent.  During  that  time 
each  of  the  Allies,  and  all  of  the  world  be- 
sides, have  been  studying  the  geography  of 
Europe  and  the  armies  engaged  in  the  great  con- 
flict. Of  all  these  countries  and  of  all  these 
armies,  I  think  that  the  least  known  and  the 
least  understood  are  the  country  and  the  army 
of  Russia. 

It  has  been  my  fortune  to  be  with  the  Russians 
since  last  September,  during  which  time  I  have 
travelled   thousands   of   versts   both   in    Poland 
—  199  — 


THE     RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

and  in  Galicia.  I  have  visited  eight  out  of  their 
eleven  active  armies,  and  been  on  the  positions 
in  most  of  them,  and  it  is  not  an  exaggeration 
to  say  that  I  have  met  and  talked  with  between 
five  hundred  and  a  thousand  officers.  Yet  I 
feel  that  I  am  only  now  beginning  to  realize 
what  this  war  means  to  Russia,  and  the  temper 
that  it  has  slowly  but  surely  developed  in  her 
armies  and  in  her  peoples.  Never  I  think  have 
the  stamina  and  the  temper  of  a  country  been 
more  fiercely  tested  than  have  those  of  Russia 
during  the  campaign  which  has  been  going  on 
in  Galicia  since  May  last.  All  the  world  realizes 
in  a  general  way  what  the  Russians  had  to  contend 
with,  and  all  the  world  knows  vaguely  that 
Russia  has  a  front  of  1,200  versts  to  protect, 
and  appreciates  in  an  indefinite  kind  of  way 
that  such  a  line  must  be  difficult  to  hold.  But 
though  I  have  been  here  for  eleven  months,  I 
never  formed  any  adequate  conception  of  how 
great  was  this  problem  until  I  undertook  to  cover 
the  Front,  from  its  far  fringe  in  Bukovina  to  its 
centre  on  the  Warsaw  Front. 

During  the  past  two  months  it  has  been  all 
but  impossible  to  follow  movements  with  any 
clear  understanding  of  their  significance.  We 
have  all  known  that  the  Russians  were  retiring 
from  position  after  position  before  overwhelming 
attacks  of  the  enemy  ;  and  with  very  few  excep- 

—  200  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

tions,  the  world  has  concluded,  and  the  enemy 
certainly  has,  that  flying  before  the  phalanx 
of  the  Austro-German  legions  with  their  thou- 
sands of  massed  guns,  fed  with  clockwork  regular- 
ity with  munitions  and  supplies  brought  up  by 
their  superb  railway  systems,  was  the  wrecked 
and  defeated  Russian  Army,  an  organization  that 
it  would  take  months  of  rest  and  recuperation 
to  lick  into  the  shape  of  a  virile  fighting  force  once 
more.  I  have  never  shared  this  opinion  myself, 
for  we  who  were  in  Manchuria  ten  years  ago 
learned  to  know  that  though  it  was  quite  possible 
to  drive  the  Russians  off  the  field,  it  was  equally 
impossible  to  destroy  their  moral  or  break  their 
spirits.  A  month  after  Lio  Yang  the  supposedly 
defeated  Russians  took  the  offensive  at  Sha  Ho 
and  came  a  cropper.  Again  in  January  another 
offensive  was  developed  and  failed.  They  were 
ready  once  more  at  Moukden  and  lost  badly. 
By  September  had  peace  not  intervened  they 
would  have  fought  again.  Even  the  Japanese 
were  beginning  to  feel  the  discouragement  of 
the  Russian  persistency  in  refusing  to  accept 
defeat  as  final.  The  Manchurian  campaign  was 
unpopular,  not  in  the  least  understood,  and  yet 
the  Russian  moujik  hung  on  and  on  month  after 
month.  The  Japanese  knew  their  mettle  and 
admitted  it  freely. 

For  a  year  now  we  have  had  the   Russians 

—  201  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

again  at  war.  But  this  time  the  situation  is 
quite  different.  The  war  touched  the  slow 
lethargic  rather  negative  Russian  temperament 
from  the  start,  by  its  appeal  to  their  race  sym- 
pathies, which  is  the  one  vital  chord  that  can 
always  be  touched  with  a  certainty  of  response, 
in  the  heart  of  every  Slav.  From  the  first  month, 
the  popularity  of  the  war  has  grown  steadily, 
until  to-day  it  has  the  backing  of  the  entire 
Russian  people,  barring  isolated  groups  of  intri- 
guers and  cliques  controlled  and  influenced  by 
German  blood.  I  have  talked  with  officers 
from  every  part  of  this  Empire,  and  they  all 
tell  me  that  it  is  the  same  in  Siberia  as  it  is 
in  European  Russia.  The  moujik  in  his  heavy, 
ponderous  way  is  behind  this  war.  No  matter 
what  pessimism  one  hears  in  Petrograd  or  War- 
saw, one  can  always  find  consolation  as  to  the 
ultimate  outcome  by  going  to  the  common  people, 
those  who  patiently  and  stoically  are  bearing 
the  burden.  This  is  the  strength  of  Russia  and 
this  is  why  Russia  and  the  Russian  Armies  are 
not  beaten  in  Galicia,  are  not  discouraged  and 
have  not  the  vaguest  idea  of  a  peace  without  a 
decision  any  more  than  the  Englishman,  the 
Frenchman  or  the  Belgian. 

In  so  vast  a  theatre  as  this,  it  is  utterly  impos- 
sible to  form  clear  and  definite  opinions  as 
to  what  has  taken  place  even  in  the  past  year, 

—  202  — 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

and  it  may  be  imagined  with  what  difficulty 
one  can  predict  the  future.  But  there  is  one 
thing  in  war  that  is  greater  than  an  advance  or 
a  retreat,  greater  than  a  dozen  battles,  and 
greater  than  the  speculations  of  experts,  and  that 
thing  is  the  temper  and  stamina  of  the  men  and 
the  people  who  are  fighting  the  war.  Given 
that  and  one  can  look  with  comparative  equani- 
mity upon  the  ups  and  downs  of  the  vast  tactical 
and  strategical  problems  which  develop  now  in 
East  Prussia,  now  in  Poland  and  again  in  Galicia. 
There  was  one  great  strategic  aim  of  the  Germans 
in  their  Galician  movement,  and  that  was  to 
crush  the  Russian  Army,  hand  back  to  Austria 
her  lost  province,  and  then  hurry  back  to  the  west 
to  attack  England  and  France.  It  is  true  that 
Germany  has  driven  the  Russians  from  position 
after  position ;  it  is  true  that  she  has  given 
back  Lwow  to  the  unenthusiastic  Austrians, 
who  with  trembling  hands  accepted  it  back  as  a 
dangerous  gift,  and  it  is  true  that  the  world 
looks  upon  the  recapture  of  Galicia  as  a  great 
moral  blow  to  the  Russian  arms.  Thus  far  has 
Germany  achieved  her  ends.  But  she  has  not 
destroyed  the  army,  she  has  not  discouraged  the 
troops,  and  with  the  exception  of  one  army,  now 
repaired,  she  did  not  even  seriously  cripple  it. 

The  plain  facts  are,  that  by  a  preponderance 
of  war  munitions  which  Russia  could  not  equal, 
—  203  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

supplied  over  lines  of  communication  which  Russia 
could  not  duplicate,  Germany  forced  Russian  with- 
drawals before  her,  for  men  cannot  fight  modern 
battles  with  their  fists.  The  glory  of  the  German 
advance  will  be  dimmed  when  the  world  really 
knows  exactly  what  Russia  had  in  men  and  in 
arms  and  munitions  to  meet  this  assault,  the 
greatest  perhaps  that  has  ever  been  made  in  mili- 
tary history.  Indeed  the  surprise  of  the  writer  is 
not  that  the  Germans  won  but  that  they  did  not 
crush  the  army  before  them.  This  retreat  from 
the  Dunajec  will  form  a  brilliant  page  in  Russia's 
history,  and  an  object  lesson  to  the  whole  world 
of  what  a  stubborn  army  composed  of  courageous 
hearts  can  do  by  almost  sheer  bravery  alone.  The 
Russians  have  come  through  their  trial  by  fire. 
Barring  one  army  they  have  probably  suffered 
far  less  in  personnel  than  the  loss  they  have 
inflicted  on  their  enemy.  They  have  reached, 
or  approximately  reached,  another  point  of 
defence.  Their  spirits  are  good,  their  confidence 
unshaken,  and  their  determination  to  fight  on 
indefinitely,  regardless  of  defeats,  is  greater  than 
it  ever  was  before. 

The  Germans  have  failed  in  their  greatest  aim 
— as  the  case  stands  to-day.  One  cannot  doubt 
that  the  high  authorities  in  Berlin  must  realize 
this  truth  as  surely  as  the  military  brains  do 
on  this  side  of  the  line.  The  Germans  have 
—  204  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

shot  their  first  bolt,  a  bolt  forged  from  every 
resource  in  men  and  munitions  that  they  could 
muster  after  months  of  preparation.  The  Rus- 
sians have  recoiled  before  it  and  may  recoil 
again  and  again,  but  they  always  manage  to 
prevent  it  from  accomplishing  its  aim.  At  the 
moment  of  writing  Germany  faces  the  identical 
problem  that  she  did  two  months  ago,  excepting 
that  she  now  occupies  extra  territory,  for  the 
most  part  in  ruins.  The  problem  before  her 
is  to  repeat  the  Galician  enterprise  on  an  army 
infinitely  better  than  the  one  she  broke  in  May. 
If  she  can  do  this  she  will  have  the  identical 
problem  to  meet  on  some  other  line  in  another 
two  months,  and  after  that  another  and  another. 
It  is  simply  a  question  of  how  rnuch  time,  men 
and  resources  Germany  has  to  spend  on  these 
costly  victories,  if  indeed  the  next  proves  a 
victory,  which  is  doubtful.  She  may  do  it  once, 
she  may  do  it  twice,  but  whenever  it  may  be  there 
will  come  a  time  when  she  can  do  it  no  more, 
and  when  that  time  comes  Russia  will  slowly, 
surely,  inexorably  come  back,  step  by  step,  until 
she  has  regained  her  own,  her  early  conquests, 
and  has  Germany  on  her  knees  in  the  East. 
It  is  futile  to  speculate  as  to  time.  It  may  be 
months  and  it  may  be  years.  But  it  is  most 
surely  coming  eventually. 

—  205  -^ 


THE  GERMAN  DRIVE  IN  GALICIA 


—  2«7- 


CHAPTER    XV 
THE  GERMAN  DRIVE  IN  GALICIA 

Dated : 

ROVNA, 

June  26,  1915. 

IT  is  utterly  impossible  at  this  time  to  give 
anything  like  an  accurate  story  of  the  past 
two  months  in  Galicia.  It  will  be  years  before 
the  information  necessary  for  definite  history 
can  be  accumulated  from  the  various  units 
engaged.  Even  then  there  will  be  gaps  and 
inaccuracies  because  hundreds  of  the  men  engaged 
have  been  killed,  and  so  few  even  of  the  Generals 
know  more  than  their  own  side  of  the  case,  that 
the  difficulties  of  the  historian  will  be  enormous. 

I  shall  not  attempt  then,  in  this  brief  chapter, 
anything  but  to  trace  the  merest  outline  of 
the  causes  and  effects  of  the  German  drive  in 
Galicia. 

It  has  been  apparent  to  all  of  us  here  from  the 

start   of   the   war   that   Warsaw   was   becoming 

increasingly    the    German    objective.     Attempts 

from  the  north  and  on  the  centre  failed  abso- 

—  209  —  p 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

lutely,  the  latter  both  in  October  and  in  January- 
February,  and  the  former  in  September  and  in 
March.  The  fall  of  Przemysl  and  the  Russian 
advance  in  the  Carpathians,  with  the  even  greater 
menace  to  the  Hungarian  plain  by  the  army 
operating  in  Bukovina,  was  threatening  Austria 
with  absolute  collapse.  The  extreme  eastern 
army  with  its  drives  further  and  further  toward 
Hungary  is  said  to  have  brought  Hungary  to 
the  verge  of  openly  demanding  a  separate 
peace.  All  these  causes,  then,  rendered  it  neces- 
sary for  Germany  to  do  something  for  Austria, 
and  by  clearing  out  Galicia  she  hoped,  not  only 
to  restore  to  her  broken  ally  something  of  hope 
and  spirit,  but  no  doubt  conceived  the  belief 
that  by  the  time  she  had  done  this,  she 
would  be  sufficiently  far  east  and  south  of 
Warsaw  to  threaten  it  from  the  south  and  rear, 
and  possibly  cause  its  abandonment  without  a 
real  battle  near  Warsaw  at  all.  Many  people 
here  believe  that  the  Germans  want  merely  to 
secure  and  hold  the  line  of  the  Vistula  and  Galicia, 
and  then  concentrate  all  their  attention  on  the 
west.  After  the  echoes  of  the  fighting  north 
of  Warsaw  in  February-March  were  dying  away, 
it  became  clear  to  all  of  us  here  that  there  would 
soon  be  another  blow  in  some  other  quarter. 
Russia,  as  one  so  often  repeats,  has  this  enormous 
line.     She  cannot  be  in  strength  at  every  point, 

—  210  — 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

and  though  she  saw  for  several  weeks  that  the 
Germans  were  concentrating  on  the  Dunajec 
Hne  in  Gahcia,  she  could  not  reinforce  it  sufficiently 
to  hold  it  without  weakening  other  more  vital 
points.  As  a  fact,  under  the  conditions  which 
actually  developed  there  she  could  not  have  held 
it,  nor  I  think  could  any  other  army. 

The  world's  history  records  nothing  that  has 
even  approximated  to  this  German  drive  which 
fell  on  one  Russian  Army,  the  bulk  of  which 
remained  at  its  post  and  perished.  The  total 
number  of  German  army  corps  sent  down  to 
do  this  job  is  uncertain.  I  have  heard  from 
many  in  high  authority  estimates  differing  so 
widely  that  I  can  supply  no  statement  as  ab- 
solutely correct.  Perhaps  sixteen  is  not  far 
from  the  actual  number,  though  probably  re- 
inforcements and  extra  divisions  sent  in  pretty 
steadily  to  fill  losses,  brought  up  the  total  to 
a  larger  number  than  the  full  strength  of  sixteen 
corps.  However  the  details  at  this  time  are 
immaterial.  The  main  point  is  that  the  Russians 
were  entirely  outnumbered  in  men,  guns  and 
ammunition.  The  statements  about  the  German 
massed  guns  also  vary  as  widely  as  from  2,000 
to  4,000.  Certainly  they  had  not  less  than  200 
guns  equal  to  or  exceeding  8-inch  types.  These 
were  concentrated  on  the  front  which  was  held  by 
three  or  four  corps  of  the  devoted  Dunajec  army. 
—  211  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

Men  who  know  have  told  me  that  what  followed 
was  indescribable.  I  have  not  heard  that  there 
was  any  panic,  or  attempt  to  retreat  on  the  part 
of  the  troops.  In  characteristic  Russian  fashion 
they  remained  and  took  their  gruelling.  For 
whole  versts  behind  the  line,  I  am  told  that  the 
terrain  was  a  hash  of  earth,  mangled  bodies, 
and  fragments  of  exploded  shell.  If  the  state- 
ment that  the  Germans  fired  700,000  shells  in 
three  hours  is  true,  and  it  is  accepted  in  the 
Russian  Army,  one  can  readily  realize  what 
must  have  been  the  condition  of  the  army  occu- 
pying that  line  of  works.  Much  criticism  has 
been  brought  against  the  General  commanding 
because  he  had  no  well-prepared  second  line 
of  trenches.  No  doubt  he  ought  to  have  had 
it,  but  it  would  have  made  little  difference  beyond 
delaying  the  advance  a  few  days.  The  German 
machine  had  been  preparing  for  two  months, 
and  everything  was  running  as  smooth  as  a  well- 
oiled  engine,  with  troops,  munitions  and  supplies 
being  fed  in  with  precision  and  regularity. 

Russia  is  not  an  industrial  nation,  and  cannot 
turn  her  resources  into  war  material  overnight 
as  the  Germans  have  been  able  to  do.  She  was 
outclassed  in  everything  except  bravery,  and 
neither  the  Germans  nor  any  other  army  can 
claim  superiority  to  her  in  that  respect.  With 
the  centre  literally  cut  away,  the  keystone  of 
—  212  — 


m         1 

■'J 

i'-"~ii 

fM 

1 

\ 

- — .^ 

mk^  ■wumm    ■ 

General  Brussilov, 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

the  Russian  line  had  been  pulled  out,  and  nothing 
remained  but  to  retire.  In  this  retirement  five 
Russian  Armies  were  involved.  Beginning  on 
the  right  was  that  of  Evert  lying  entirely  in 
Poland  on  the  Nida  river.  His  army  has  been 
usually  successful  and  always  full  of  fight,  and 
its  retirement  was  purely  that  it  might  keep 
symmetrical  with  the  Russian  line  as  a  whole.  I 
have  written  in  an  earlier  chapter  of  Evert's 
retreat,  of  how  in  falling  back  on  to  his  new 
line  he  accounted  for  between  20,000  and  30,000 
of  the  German  and  Austrian  troops.  Of  this  it 
is  unnecessary  to  say  more  at  present,  save  that 
his  army  is  in  a  good  position  and  stronger  and 
more  spirited  than  ever. 

The  unfortunate  army  of  the  Dunajec,  whose 
commander  and  number  are  as  well  known  in 
England  as  here,  began  then  to  fall  back  with 
what  there  was  left  of  it  on  the  San,  tearing  up 
railroads  and  fighting  a  rearguard  action  with 
what  strength  it  could  command.  In  the  mean- 
time the  army  of  Brussilov,  which  up  to  this 
time  had  never  been  defeated,  was  well  through 
the  Carpathians  and  going  strong.  The  crumb- 
ling of  their  right  neighbour  left  them  in  a  terrible 
plight,  and  only  skilful  and  rapid  manoeuvring 
got  them  back  out  of  the  passes  in  time  to  get 
in  touch  with  the  fragments  of  the  retreating 
centre,  which  by  the  time  it  reached  the  San 
-—  213  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

had  got  reinforcements  and  some  ammunition. 
Brussilov's  right  tried  to  hold  Przemysl,  but  as 
the  commander  assured  me,  there  was  nothing 
left  of  the  fortifications.  Besides,  as  I  gather 
from  officers  in  that  part  of  his  army,  further 
retirements  of  the  next  army  kept  exposing  their 
flank,  and  made  it  imperative  for  the  whole  army  to 
commence  its  retreat  toward  the  Russian  frontier. 
I  have  good  reason  for  believing  that  the 
Russian  plan  to  retire  to  their  own  frontier  was 
decided  on  when  they  lost  Przemysl,  and  that 
the  battles  on  the  Grodek  line,  around  Lwow, 
were  merely  rearguard  actions.  In  any  case,  I 
do  know  that  while  the  fighting  was  still  in  pro- 
gress on  the  San,  and  just  as  Przemysl  was  taken, 
work  was  commenced  on  a  permanent  line  of 
defence  south  of  Lublin  and  Cholm,  the  line  in 
fact  which  is  at  this  moment  being  held  by  the 
Russians.  My  belief,  then,  is  that  everything 
that  took  place  between  the  San  and  the  present 
line  must  be  considered  inevitable  in  the  higher 
interests  of  Russian  strategy.  The  interim  be- 
tween leaving  the  San  and  taking  up  what  is  now 
approximately  the  line  on  which  they  will  probably 
make  a  definite  stand,  will  make  a  very  fine  page 
in  Russian  history.  I  cannot  at  this  time  go  into 
any  details,  but  the  Allies  will  open  their  eyes 
when  they  know  exactly  how  little  the  Russians 
had  in  the  way  of  ammunition  to  hold  off  this 
—  214  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

mass  of  Germans  and  Austrians  whose  supply  of 
shell  poured  in  steadily  week  after  week. 

Next  to  the  army  of  Brussilov  is  that  army 
which  had  been  assaulting  and  making  excellent 
headway  in  the  Eastern  Carpathians.  They, 
too,  were  attacked  with  terrible  energy,  but 
taken  independently  could  probably  have  held 
on  indefinitely.  As  it  was  they  never  moved 
until  the  retirement  of  all  the  other  armies  west 
of  them  rendered  their  position  untenable.  The 
German  and  Austrian  communiques  have  con- 
stantly discussed  the  defeat  of  this  army.  The 
world  can  judge  whether  it  was  demoralized 
when  it  learns  that  in  six  weeks,  from  Stryj  to 
the  Zota  Lipa,  it  captured  53,000  prisoners. 
During  this  same  period,  the  army  of  Bukovina 
in  the  far  left  was  actually  advancing,  and  only 
came  back  to  preserve  the  symmetry  of  the  whole 
line.  The  problem  of  falling  back  over  this 
extremely  long  front  with  five  great  armies,  after 
the  centre  was  completely  broken,  was  as  difficult 
an  one  as  could  well  be  presented.  In  the  face, 
of  an  alert  enemy  there  were  here  and  there 
local  disasters  and  bags  of  Russian  prisoners, 
but  with  all  their  skill,  and  with  all  their  railroads, 
and  superiority  in  both  men  and  ammunition, 
the  Germans  and  the  Austrians  have  not  been 
able  to  destroy  the  Russian  force,  which  stands 
before  them  to-day  on  a  new  and  stronger  line. 
—  215  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

The  further  the  Russians  have  retired,  the  slower 
has  been  their  retreat  and  the  more  difficult  has 
it  been  for  the  enemy  to  follow  up  their  strokes 
with  anything  like  the  same  strength  and  energy. 
In  other  words  the  Russians  are  pretty  nearly 
beyond  the  reach  of  enemy  blows  which  can 
hurt  them  fatally. 

The  Austrians  have  followed  up  the  Eastern 
armies  and  claim  enormous  victories,  but  it  must 
be  pretty  clear  now,  even  to  the  Austrians  and 
Germans,  that  these  victories,  which  are  costing 
them  twice  what  they  are  costing  the  Russians, 
are  merely  rearguard  actions.  In  any  case  the 
Austrian  enthusiasm  is  rapidly  ebbing  away.  After 
two  months  of  fighting  the  Germans  have  finally 
swung  their  main  strength  back  toward  the  line 
of  Cholm-Lublin,  with  the  probable  intent  of 
finishing  up  the  movement  by  threatening  War- 
saw and  thus  closing  up  successfully  the  whole 
Galician  campaign,  which  as  many  believe,  had 
this  end  in  view.  But  now  they  find  a  recuperated 
and  much  stronger  Russian  Army  complacently 
awaiting  them  on  a  selected  position  which  is 
in  every  way  the  best  they  have  ever  had. 

As  I  write  there  is  still  much  doubt  as  to  whether 
the  Germans  will  try  and  go  further  ahead  here, 
for  it  is  pretty  clear  that  they  are  checked  at 
this  point,  and  that  the  Galician  movement 
has  reached  its  low-water  mark  as  far  as  the 
—  216  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

Russians  are  concerned.  The  next  blow  will 
no  doubt  fall  either  north  of  Warsaw  or  possibly 
on  the  much-battered  Bzura-Rawka  Front  itself, 
which  for  so  many  months  has  stood  the  wear 
and  tear  of  many  frantic  efforts  to  break  through. 


—  217  — 


THE  FRONT  OF  IVANOV 


CHAPTER    XVI 

THE    FRONT    OF    IVANOV 

Dated : 
Galician  Frontier, 
June  28,  1915. 

IN  Russia  it  is  not  a  simple  matter  to  change 
one's  "  front."  For  many  months  I  have 
been  associated  with  the  group  of  armies  over 
which  Alexieff  presides,  where  I  have  been 
able  to  move  about  from  army  to  army 
with  the  utmost  freedom.  When  I  decided  to 
change  my  base  to  the  head-quarters  of  Ivanov 
and  the  front  of  Galicia  I  found  myself  surrounded 
by  difficulties.  For  more  than  a  month  now,  one 
could  enter  Warsaw  without  a  permit  or  travel 
on  the  roads  or  pass  to  and  from  any  of  the 
towns  in  the  area  of  war.  I  applied  to  my  army 
friends  in  Warsaw  and  they,  by  permission  of 
General  Alexieff,  kindly  lent  me  a  young  officer 
whose  duty  it  was  to  deliver  me  into  the  hands 
of  the  staff  of  the  Galician  Front. 

We  left  Warsaw  in  my  motor,  not  even  knowing 
where  the  staff  of  Ivanov  was,  for  at  that  moment 
it  was  on  its  way  to  a  new  destination,  the  retire- 
—  221  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

ments  from  Galicia  having  thrown  the  command- 
ing General  too  far  west  to  be  conveniently  in 
touch  with  his  left  flank  armies.  Stopping  at 
a  point  about  lOo  versts  from  Warsaw,  we 
learned  our  destination,  and  two  days  later 
motored  into  the  quaint  little  Russian  town  not 
too  far  from  Galicia,  where  the  presiding  genius 
of  the  Eastern  Campaign  had  arrived  that  very 
morning  with  his  whole  staff.  Here  we  found 
Ivanov  living  on  a  special  train  with  his  head- 
quarters in  a  kind  of  old  museum.  As  the  staff 
had  just  arrived,  everything  was  still  in  confusion 
and  nothing  had  been  done  to  make  the  room, 
which  was  as  large  as  a  barn,  comfortable.  In  the 
centre  were  two  enormous  tables  covered  with 
maps,  before  which  sat  a  rather  tired-looking  man 
with  a  great  full  beard.  He  arose  as  we  entered, 
and  after  shaking  hands  bade  us  be  seated. 

General  Ivanov  is  a  man  of  about  sixty,  with 
a  kindly  gentle  face  and  a  low  and  musical 
voice.  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  him  ever 
becoming  excited  or  ever  making  a  sudden  move- 
ment. Everything  about  him  suggests  calm, 
balance,  poise  and  absolute  self-control.  As  he 
speaks  only  Russian  I  was  obhged  to  talk  with  him 
entirely  through  an  interpreter.  He  has  very 
deep  blue  eyes  with  a  kindly  little  twinkle  in 
them  that  one  suspects  might  easily  turn  to  a 
point  of  fire  if   he  were  roused.     Since  meeting 

—  222  — 


^ 

General  Ivanov. 


My  car  in  a  Galician  village. 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

him  I  have  known  many  of  his  staff,  and  find  that 
his  personaHty  is  just  what  his  appearance  sug- 
gests. A  great-hearted,  kindly,  unselfish  man, 
he  is  worshipped  by  all  whose  duty  it  is  to  work 
with,  for  and  under  him.  It  is  not  etiquette 
according  to  the  censor  to  quote  anything  that 
the  General  said,  and  I  deeply  regret  this  as  I 
talked  with  him  for  an  hour,  and  after  the  first 
thirty  minutes  felt  as  much  at  home  as  though 
I  had  known  him  a  lifetime.  His  work  and  his 
army  and  the  success  of  Russia  make  up  his 
entire  life.  He  impressed  me  as  a  big,  earnest 
man,  giving  all  the  force  of  a  powerful  intellect 
to  a  very  big  job  and  doing  it  with  the  simplicity 
that  is  characteristic  of  all  big  men. 

After  a  few  commonplaces  he  asked  me  what  I 
wanted.  I  told  him  quite  frankly  that  from  a 
news  point  of  view,  Russia,  and  the  Galician 
campaign  especially,  was  little  known  in  the 
West.  That  the  public  in  the  West  were  depressed 
over  the  Russian  reverses  in  Galicia,  and  that 
all  of  the  friends  of  Russia  wanted  to  know  as 
accurately  as  possible  what  the  conditions  were 
in  his  armies.  He  leaned  back  in  his  chair  and 
studied  me  closely  for  fully  a  minute,  and  then 
smiled  a  little,  and  the  interpreter  translated  to 
me  :  ''  The  General  says  that  you  may  do  what 
you  hke  in  his  armies.  He  will  detail  an  officer 
who  speaks  English  to  go  with  you.  You  may 
—  223  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

visit  any  army,  any  trench,  any  position  or  any 
organization  that  you  wish,  and  he  will  give  you 
the  written  permission.  He  will  suggest  a  plan 
which  he  thinks  advisable,  but  if  you  do  not 
care  for  it  you  can  make  one  up  for  yourself  and 
he  will  give  his  consent  to  any  programme  that 
you  care  to  suggest/'  The  General  smiled 
and  then  bent  forward  over  his  maps,  and 
with  his  pencil  pointed  out  to  me  the  general 
arrangement  of  his  armies,  and  after  some  dis- 
cussion advised  that  I  should  start  on  his  ex- 
treme left  flank,  the  last  division  of  which  was 
operating  in  Bukovina  not  far  from  the  Roumanian 
frontier.  We  were  to  stop  as  long  as  we  cared 
to,  and  then  visit  each  army  in  turn  until  we 
had  covered  all  in  his  group,  when  the  officer 
who  was  to  be  detailed  to  accompany  us  would 
deliver  us  to  the  first  army  next  to  him  that 
belonged  to  the  Alexieff  group. 

He  then  sent  for  the  officer  who  was  to  be  our 
guide,  and  presently  there  appeared  a  tall,  hand- 
some young  man  who  was  introduced  to  us  as 
Prince  Oblensky,  a  captain  of  the  Chevalier 
Guards,  now  serving  as  personal  aide-de-camp  to 
General  Ivanov.  From  the  moment  that  we 
met  him  the  Prince  took  charge  of  us  completely, 
and  for  two  weeks  he  was  our  guide,  philosopher 
and  friend.  In  passing  I  must  say  that  I  have 
never  known  a  man  of  sweeter  disposition  and  a 
—  224  — 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

more  charming  companion  than  this  young 
Captain,  from  whom  I  was  not  separated  for  above 
an  hour  or  two  at  a  time  in  fourteen  days.  The 
Prince  took  me  around  and  introduced  me  to  a 
number  of  the  staff,  and  all  of  them  talked  freely 
and  with  very  little  reserve  about  the  whole 
situation. 

The  point  of  view  that  I  found  at  Ivanov*s 
staff  was  this.  Russia  with  her  long  front  could 
not  be  strong  everywhere  at  once.  Her  railroad 
system  and  her  industrial  organization  were  in 
no  way  equal  to  the  German.  Their  sudden 
concentration  was  irresistible,  and  almost  from 
the  start  the  Russians  realized  that  they 
would  have  to  go  back.  It  was  hoped  that 
the  Germans  could  not  maintain  their  ascendancy 
of  ammunition  and  strength  beyond  the  San. 
Indeed,  for  a  few  days  there  was  something  of 
a  lull  in  which  the  Russians  made  gains  in  certain 
places.  Then  the  flow  of  ammunition  was  resumed, 
and  from  that  time  it  was  pretty  well  under- 
stood that  the  Grodek  line,  and  Lwow,  would 
be  held  only  as  rearguard  actions  to  delay  the 
German  advance,  and  to  take  from  them  the 
maximum  loss  at  the  minimum  sacrifice.  This 
particular  staff,  in  whose  hands  rested  the  con- 
duct of  the  whole  manoeuvre,  had  then  the  task 
of  withdrawing  these  armies  over  this  vast  front 
in  such  order  and  symmetry  that  as  they  retired 
—  225  —  0 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

no  one  should  overlap  the  flanks  of  the  other, 
and  that  no  loopholes  should  occur  where  an 
enemy  could  get  through.  With  these  numerous 
armies,  operating  in  all  kinds  of  countries  with 
all  sorts  of  lines  of  communications,  falling  back 
before  fierce  assaults  from  an  enemy  superior 
in  guns  and  men,  the  performance  of  getting 
them  safely  back  on  to  a  united  line  where  they 
could  once  more  make  a  united  stand,  must,  I 
think,  take  its  place  in  history  as  one  of  the 
greatest  military  manoeuvres  that  has  ever  been 
made. 

I  had  just  come  from  Petrograd  where  the 
greatest  gloom  prevailed  in  regard  to  the  evacua- 
tion of  Lwow,  and  I  was  surprised  to  find  that 
no  one  here  attached  any  great  importance  to 
Lwow.  One  officer  of  general's  rank  remarked, 
''  We  do  not  believe  in  holding  untenable  military 
positions  for  moral  effect.  Lwow  is  of  no  great 
value  to  us  from  a  military  point  of  view,  and 
the  way  the  line  developed  it  was  impossible 
to  stay  there  without  great  risk.  So  we  left. 
By  and  by  we  will  go  back  and  take  it  again  when 
we  have  more  ammunition.*'  This  was  the  first 
time  that  I  heard  this  statement,  but  since  then 
I  have  heard  it  at  least  a  hundred  times  made 
by  officers  of  all  ranks  from  generals  down  to 
subalterns.  All  agreed  that  it  was  disappointing 
to  come  back  after  having  fought  so  many  months 
—  226  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

in  taking  Galicia,  but  I  did  not  find  one  man 
who  was  in  the  least  depressed  ;  and  from  that 
day  to  this  I  have  not  heard  in  the  army  an 
expressed  fear,  or  even  a  suggestion,  that  there 
might  be  a  possibihty  that  Russia  would  not 
prove  equal  to  her  task.  The  Russians  as  a 
race  may  be  a  bit  slow  in  reaching  conclusions, 
but  once  they  get  their  teeth  set  I  think  there 
are  no  more  stubborn  or  determined  people  in 
the  world. 

This  retreat  with  all  its  losses  and  all  its  sacri- 
fices has  not,  I  think,  shaken  the  courage  of  a 
single  soldier  in  the  whole  Russian  Army.  They 
simply  shut  their  teeth  and  pray  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  begin  all  over  again.  All  eagerly 
assured  me  that  the  Germans  and  Austrians 
had  lost  far  more  than  the  Russians,  and  I  was  told 
by  a  high  authority  that  the  Germans  estimated 
their  own  losses  in  two  months  at  380,000  killed, 
wounded  and  missing.  One  man  significantly 
put  the  situation,  *'  To  judge  of  this  movement 
one  should  see  how  it  looks  behind  the  German 
lines.  In  spite  of  their  advances  and  bulletins 
of  success,  there  has  been  great  gloom  behind 
their  front.  We  know  absolutely  that  every 
town  and  even  every  village  in  Eastern  Silesia 
is  filled  with  wounded,  and  in  Breslau  and  Posen 
there  is  hardly  a  house  that  has  not  been  requisi- 
tioned for  the  accommodation  of  wounded.  Since 
—  227  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

the  enemy  crossed  the  Dunajec  there  has  been 
an  unbroken  stream  of  wounded  flowing  steadily 
back  across  the  frontier.     This  we  do  not  see 
in  the  papers  printed  in  Germany.     The  Russian 
game  is  to  keep  on  weakening  the  Germans.     We 
would  rather   advance,   of  course,   but  whether 
we   advance   or   retreat   we   are   weakening   the 
enemy   day    after   day;    sometime    he   will    be 
unable  to  repair  his  losses  and  then  we  will  go 
on   again.     Do   not   worry.     All   of   this  is  but 
temporary.     We  are  not  in  the  least  discouraged.*' 
Another  statement  which  at   first  struck   me 
as  curious,  but  which  I  have  since  come  to  under- 
stand,  was    that   the   morale   of   the   Austrians 
has  been  steadily  decreasing  since  the  capture 
of  Przemysl  and  the  fighting  on  the  San.     Since 
visiting  Ivanov  I  have  been  in  six  armies  and 
have   talked   in   nearly   all   with   the   men   who 
have    been    examining    the   Austrian    prisoners. 
Their  point  of  view  seems  to  be    pretty  much 
the   same.     And   when   I   say   the   Austrians,    I 
mean,  of  course,  the  common  soldiers  and  not 
the    authorities    or    the    of&cers.     The    Austrian 
soldiers'  view  is  something  like  this  :    ''  We  have 
fought  now  for  a  year,  and  in  May  we  had  prac- 
tically lost   Galicia.     The   end   of   the   war,   for 
which  we  have  never  cared,  was  almost  in  sight. 
We  hoped  that  soon  there  would  be  some  kind 
of  peace  and  we  could  go  home.     We  had  lost 
—  228  —- 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

Galicia,  but  the  average  man  in  the  Austrian 
Army  cares  little  for  Galicia.  Just  as  the  end 
seemed  in  sight,  the  Germans,  whom  we  don't 
like  any  way,  came  down  here  and  dragged  us 
along  into  this  advance.  At  first  we  were  pleased, 
but  we  never  expected  the  Russians  to  hold  out 
so  long.  Finally  the  Germans  have  given  us 
back  Lwow,  and  now  little  by  little  they  are 
beginning  to  go  away.  It  is  only  a  question  of 
time  when  they  will  all  be  gone  either  to  France 
or  against  some  other  Russian  front.  Then  the 
Russians  will  come  back.  Our  officers  will  make 
us  defend  Lwow.  They  will  make  us  defend  the 
Grodek  line,  Przemysl  and  the  Carpathians. 
The  Russians  are  united.  We  are  not.  They 
will  beat  us  as  they  did  before.  In  the  end  we 
will  be  just  where  we  were  in  May.  It  is  all 
an  extra  fight,  with  more  losses,  more  suffering 
and  more  misery.  We  owe  it  all  to  the  Germans. 
We  do  not  like  it  and  we  are  not  interested." 

I  think  this  point  of  view  is  more  or  less  typical, 
and  it  accounts  in  a  large  measure  for  the  fact 
that  even  though  they  are  advancing  the  Aus- 
trians  are  still  surrendering  in  enormous  blocks 
whenever  they  get  the  chance  of  doing  so  without 
being  caught  in  the  act  by  their  Allies. 

For  the  most  part  the  men  that  I  talked  with 
here  thought  that  the  army  had  retired  about  as 
far  as  it  would  for  the  present.  But  one  feels 
—  229  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

constant  surprise  at  the  stoicism  of  the  Russian, 
who  does  not  apparently  feel  the  smallest  concern 
at  withdrawals,  for,  as  they  say,  *'  If  they  keep 
coming  on  into  Russia  it  will  be  as  it  was  with 
Napoleon.  They  can  never  beat  us  in  the  long 
run,  and  the  further  they  force  us  back  the  worse 
for  them.  Look  at  Moscow,"  and  they  smile 
and  offer  you  a  cigarette.  I  have  never  in  my 
life  seen  people  who  apparently  have  a  more 
sublime  confidence  in  their  cause  and  in  them- 
selves than  the  Russians.  Their  confidence  does 
not  lie  in  their  military  technique,  for  I  think  all 
admit  that  in  that  the  Germans  are  their  superiors. 
It  lies  in  their  own  confidence,  in  the  stamina  and 
character  of  the  Russian  people,  who,  when  once 
aroused  are  as  slow  to  leave  off  a  fight  as  they  are 
to  begin  it. 

Throughout  Russia  to-day  the  strength  of  the 
war  idea  is  growing  daily.  Every  reverse,  every 
withdrawal  and  every  rumour  of  defeat  only 
stiffens  the  determination  to  fight  harder  and 
longer.  Time  is  their  great  ally  they  say, 
for  Germany  cannot,  they  are  certain,  fight 
indefinitely,  while  they  believe  that  they  can. 

These  opinions  are  not  my  own  but  the  opinions 
of  Russians.  These  men  may  be  unduly  en- 
thusiastic about  their  countrymen,  but  what 
they  say  I  have  since  heard  all  over  the  army 
at  the  Front ;  whether  they  are  right  or  wrong 
—  230  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

they  may  certainly  be  taken  as  typical  of  the 
natural  view. 

When  I  left  Petrograd  I  was  not  cheerful  as 
to  the  outlook  in  Galicia.  When  I  left  Ivanov's 
head-quarters  I  felt  more  optimistic  than  I  had 
been  in  six  weeks. 


—  231 


HUNTING  FOR  THE  ARMY  OF  THE 
BUKOVINA 


CHAPTER    XVII 

HUNTING    FOR    THE   ARMY    OF    THE 
BUKOVINA 

Dated : 

Tlust,  Galicia, 
June  30,  1915. 

THE  town  where  General  Ivanov  lives  is 
in  Russia  proper,  and  one  may  realize 
the  scope  of  the  military  operations  when  one 
learns  that  the  head-quarters  of  the  army  of 
his  left  flank  is  nearly  200  versts  from  the 
commander,  while  the  furthest  outpost  of  that 
army  itself  is  perhaps  150  or  200  versts  further 
still,  which  means  that  the  directing  genius  is 
not  far  from  400  versts  from  his  most  distant  line. 
After  leaving  the  head-quarters  we  motored  for 
40  or  50  versts  along  the  main  line  of  communica- 
tions of  the  whole  group  of  armies,  passing  the 
usual  endless  train  of  transport  and  troops  moving 
slowly  forward  to  fill  the  ranks  and  replenish 
the  supplies  of  the  vast  force  that  lies  spread 
out  ahead  of  us.  For  eleven  months  now,  first 
in  one  part  of  Russia  and  then  in  another,  I 
—  235  — 


THE   RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN 

have  been  passing  on  the  roads  these  endless 
chains  of  transport.  Truly  one  begins  to  get 
the  idea  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  world  nowa- 
days but  soldiers,  guns,  caissons  and  transport. 
One  wonders  where  on  earth  it  has  all  been  kept 
in  the  days  before  August,  a  year  ago,  when  a 
dozen  transport  carts  or  a  battery  of  artillery 
was  a  sufficient  novelty  on  the  road  to  cause  one 
to  turn  and  look  at  it. 

Forty  versts  from  the  head-quarters,  we  turn 
from  the  main  road  and  strike  off  to  the  east  and 
south  toward  Tarnopol,  which  though  not  the 
head-quarters  of  an  army  (if  it  were  I  could  not 
mention  it)  is  not  too  far  away  from  the  same. 
The  road  we  follow  is  an  excellent  one  as  far  as 
Kremenetz,  a  wonderfully  picturesque  little  town 
tucked  away  in  the  hills,  not  far  from  the  Russian- 
Galician  frontier.  Its  quaint  streets  are  now 
filled  with  the  inevitable  paraphernalia  of  war. 
From  here  by  a  road  of  lesser  merit,  we  wind  up 
a  narrow  road  to  one  of  the  most  picturesque 
spots  I  have  ever  seen,  called  Pochaief.  This 
is  the  last  town  on  the  Russian  side  of  the  frontier. 
Here  is  a  monastery  a  thousand  years  old,  a 
Mecca  to  which  come  thousands  of  the  devout 
peasantry  from  all  over  the  Empire.  The  build- 
ing itself  is  one  of  the  greatest  piles  in  Europe, 
and  on  its  hill  towers  above  the  surrounding 
country  so  that  it  is  visible  for  20  versts  with 
—  236  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

its  golden  dome  shining  in  the  summer  sun. 
We  reached  the  place  late  in  the  afternoon 
and  learned  that  all  the  regular  roads  stopped 
here  as  it  has  apparently  not  been  considered 
policy  by  either  the  Russian  or  Austrian  Govern- 
ments to  have  easy  highways  across  the  frontier. 
At  this  point  we  were  perhaps  12  versts 
from  the  nearest  good  road  in  Galicia,  a  very 
trifling  distance  for  a  car  that  has  been  doing 
70  or  80  versts  an  hour.  The  head  of  the  police  in 
Pochaief  kindly  lent  us  a  gendarme,  who  assured 
us  that  we  could  get  across  the  12  interven- 
ing versts  in  an  hour.  So  with  this  placid-faced 
guide  we  started  about  nine  in  the  evening. 
This  amiable  gendarme,  who  had  more  goodwill 
than  brains,  in  half  an  hour  had  led  us  into  a 
country  of  bluffs,  forests,  bridle  paths  and  worse 
that  defy  description.  I  neglected  to  say  that 
General  Ivanov  had  kindly  given  us  an  extra 
motor  to  carry  our  baggage,  and  extra  chauffeurs, 
etc.  The  moon  was  just  rising  and  we  were 
digging  ourselves  out  of  difficulties  for  the  tenth 
time  when  our  guide  announced  that  the  road 
was  now  a  perfectly  clear  and  good  one,  and 
saluting  respectfully  left  us  in  the  wood  with 
our  cars  groaning  and  panting  and  staggering 
over  bumps  and  ditches  until  one  came  to  have 
the  most  intense  admiration  for  the  gentlemen 
that  design  motor-cars.  It  is  a  mystery  to  me 
—  237  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

how  they  ever  stand  the  misery  that  they  have 
to  undergo. 

By  midnight  we  were  sitting  out  on  a  ridge  of 
hills  stuck  fast  in  a  field  with  our  engines 
racing,  and  the  mud  flying  and  the  whole 
party  pushing  and  sweating  and  swearing.  No 
doubt  our  guide  had  foreseen  this  very  spot  and 
had  had  the  discretion  to  withdraw  before  we 
reached  it.  This  was  the  exact  frontier,  and 
with  its  rolling  hills  and  forests  stretching  before 
us  in  the  quiet  moonlight  it  was  very  beautiful. 
Our  Prince,  who  never  gets  discouraged  or  ruffled, 
admired  the  scenery  and  smoked  a  cigarette, 
and  we  all  wished  for  just  one  moment  of  our 
guide,  for  whom  we  had  sundry  little  pleasantries 
prepared.  While  we  were  still  panting  and 
gasping,  a  figure  on  horseback  came  over  the 
hill  and  cautiously  approached  us.  He  proved 
to  be  a  policeman  from  the  Galician  side  who 
had  come  out  as  the  Prince  told  us  because  he 
had  heard  our  engines  and  thought  that  a  Ger- 
man aeroplane  ''  had  sat  down  on  the  hill '' 
and  he  had  come  out  to  capture  it.  He  was 
slightly  disappointed  at  his  mistake,  but  guided 
us  back  to  the  village  whence  he  had  come. 
Near  here  we  found  a  beautiful  Austrian  estate, 
where  we  woke  up  the  keeper  and  made  him 
give  us  ''my  lady's"  bed  chamber  for  the  night, 
which  he  did  grudgingly. 

—  238  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

Our  troubles  were  now  over,  for  after  one  break- 
down in  the  morning  we  were  on  a  good  highway 
which  ran  via  Potkaimen  down  to  Tarnopol.  At 
Potkaimen  we  were  again  on  the  Hne  of  travel, 
with  the  line  of  creaking  transport  and  jangling 
guns  and  caissons.  I  have  never  passed  through  a 
more  beautiful  or  picturesque  country  in  my  life, 
and  wonder  why  tourists  do  not  come  this  way. 
Apparently  until  the  war  these  villages  were 
as  much  off  the  beaten  path  as  though  they 
were  in  the  heart  of  Africa.  Rolling  hills,  forests, 
with  silvery  lakes  dotting  the  valleys,  extend 
for  miles  with  wonderful  little  streams  watering 
each  small  water-shed  between  the  ridges.  The 
roads  are  fine,  and  the  last  60  versts  into  Tarnopol 
we  made  in  record  time.  A  few  miles  from  the 
city  we  began  to  pass  an  endless  line  of  carts 
bearing  all  sorts  and  descriptions  of  copper.  It 
was  evident  that  many  distilleries  and  other 
plants  had  been  hurriedly  dismantled,  and  every- 
thing in  them  containing  copper  shipped  away 
less  it  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  copper-hungry 
enemy. 

Here,  too,  we  passed  long  lines  of  the  carts 
of  the  Galician  peasantry  fleeing  from  the  fear 
of  the  German  invasion.  It  strikes  one  as  extra- 
ordinary that  these  inhabitants,  many  of  whose 
husbands,  brothers  and  fathers  are  fighting 
in  the  Austrian  Armies,  should  take  refuge  in 
~  239  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

flight  at  the  rumour  of  their  approach.  It  is 
a  sad  commentary  on  the  reputation  of  the 
Germans  that  even  the  peoples  of  their  AlHes  flee 
at  the  report  of  their  approach.  The  name  of 
Prussian  down  here  seems  to  carry  as  much 
terror  to  the  GaUcian  peasant  as  ever  it  did 
to  the  Belgians  or  the  Poles  in  other  theatres 
of  war.  The  peasantry  are  moving  out  bag  and 
baggage  with  all  the  pathos  and  misery  which 
the  abandonment  of  their  homes  and  lifelong 
treasures  spells  to  these  simple  folk.  Even  ten 
months'  association  with  similar  scenes  does 
not  harden  one  to  the  pitifulness  of  it  all.  Little 
children  clinging  to  their  toys,  mothers,  haggard 
and  frightened,  nursing  babes  at  their  breasts,  and 
fathers  and  sons  urging  on  the  patient,  weary, 
family  horse  as  he  tugs  despairingly  at  the  over- 
loaded cart  weighted  down  with  the  pathetic 
odds  and  ends  of  the  former  home. 

Tarnopol  itself  was  a  great  surprise  to  me. 
It  is  a  typical  Austrian  town  with  a  lovely  park 
in  the  centre  and  three  hotels  which  are  nearly  first 
class.  Paved  streets,  imposing  public  buildings 
and  a  very  fine  station,  besides  hundreds  of  lovely 
dwelling  houses,  make  a  very  beautiful  little 
town  ;  and  with  its  setting  in  the  valley,  Tarnopol 
seems  an  altogether  desirable  place.  Here  as 
elsewhere  troops  are  seething.  The  station  is 
a  military  restaurant  and  emergency  hospital 
—  240  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

combined.  One  of  the  waiting-rooms  has  been 
turned  into  an  operating  and  dressing-room, 
and  when  there  is  fighting  on  at  the  front  the 
whole  place  is  congested  with  stretchers  and 
the  atmosphere  reeks  of  disinfectants  and  ether 
fumes. 

We  stopped  here  only  overnight,  for  we  are 
bound  to  the  furthest  stretch  of  our  front  to  the 
south-east.  In  the  evening  there  came  through 
battalion  after  battalion  of  troops  swinging 
through  the  streets,  tired,  dirty  and  battle  stained, 
but,  with  it  all,  singing  at  the  top  of  their  lungs. 
These  men  were  moving  from  one  front  to  another, 
and  most  of  them  had  been  fighting  for  weeks. 
The  first  glance  was  sufficient  to  make  one  realize 
that  these  troops  were  certainly  not  down-hearted. 

In  strong  contrast  to  the  Russians  was  the 
sight  of  the  latest  haul  of  prisoners  which  passed 
through  the  next  morning — several  thousand 
Austrians  and  two  or  three  hundred  Germans. 

In  spite  of  their  being  caught  at  the  hightide 
of  their  advance  movement  the  Austrians  had 
the  same  broken-hearted  expression  that  I  have 
seen  in  tens  of  thousands  of  Austrian  prisoners 
for  ten  months.  I  have  now  seen  Austrians 
from  every  quarter  of  their  Empire,  and  I  must 
say  I  have  never  seen  a  squad  of  prisoners  who 
have  not  had  the  same  expression  of  hopeless- 
ness  and   resignation.     These   were   well-clothed 

—  241  —  R 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

and  for  prisoners  moderately  clean.  The  critic 
may  say  that  prisoners  always  look  depressed 
and  dejected,  but  to  judge  the  Austrians,  one 
must  compare  them  with  the  Germans,  and  it 
was  possible  to  do  so  on  this  occasion,  for  directly 
behind  the  troops  of  the  Hapsburgs  came  two 
or  three  hundred  Germans.  I  have  never  seen 
such  spectacles  in  my  life.  Worn,  haggard, 
ragged  and  tired  they  were,  but  in  contrast  to 
the  Austrians,  they  walked  proudly,  heads  thrown 
back,  glaring  defiantly  at  the  curious  crowds 
that  watched  them  pass.  Whether  they  are 
prisoners  or  conquerors  the  German  soldiers  always 
wear  the  same  mien  of  superiority  and  arro- 
gance. But  the  significance  of  this  group  was 
not  their  self-respect  and  defiance  of  their  cap- 
tivity but  their  condition.  I  have  never  in  war 
seen  men  so  nearly  ''all-in'*  as  these  prisoners. 
Two  in  the  line  had  no  shirts,  their  ragged  coats 
covering  their  bare,  brown  breasts.  Some  had 
no  hats,  all  were  nearly  in  rags,  the  boots  of  many 
were  worn  thin  and  many  of  them  limped  wearily. 
Boys  of  eighteen  marched  by  men  who  looked  a 
hundred,  though  I  suppose  they  were  under  fifty 
actually.  One  saw  a  giant  of  6  feet  5  inches 
walking  by  a  stripling  of  5  feet  2  inches. 
Their  faces  were  thin  and  drawn,  and  many 
of  them  looked  as  if  one  might  have  hung  hats 
oil  their  cheek-bones.     These  men  may  be  wrong 

—  242  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

and  they  may  be  cruel,  but  one  must  admit  that 
they  are  object  lessons  in  fortitude,  and  whatever 
they  are  they  are  certainly  soldiers.  In  wagons 
behind  came  wounded  Germans,  mostly  privates- 
Later  I  discovered  that  a  number  of  these  troops 
had  just  come  from  the  French  front.  As  one 
said,  ''  Arrived  at  noon,  captured  at  three." 
Their  explanation  of  their  capture  was  that  their 
officer  lost  the  way.  Further  examination  brought 
forth  the  information  that  nearly  all  their  officers 
had  been  killed  ;  and  that  the  bulk  of  the  com- 
pany officers  were  now  either  young  boys  or  old 
men  who  knew  little  of  maps  or  military  matters, 
which  accounted  for  them  getting  lost  and  falling 
into  the  Russian  hands.  The  Austrians  were 
captured  because,  as  usual,  they  wanted  to  be. 
The  numbers  of  the  prisoners  seen  here,  that  is 
2,000  Austrians  and  200  Germans,  is  just  about 
the  proportion  in  which  morale  and  enthusiasm 
in  the  war  exists  in  the  two  armies. 

Next  morning  having  obtained  the  necessary 
permits  we  took  our  motors  and  headed  south 
for  the  army  lying  on  the  Dniester  with  its  flank 
in  the  Bukovina. 


—  243 


THE  RUSSIAN  LEFT 


CHAPTER    XVIII 

THE    RUSSIAN   LEFT 

Germanikowka,  Galicia, 

July  3,  1915. 

THE  army  of  the  Bukovina,  or  the  extreme 
Russian  left,  is  probably  the  most  romantic 
organization  operating  in  one  of  the  most  pic- 
turesque countries  in  the  whole  theatre  of  this 
gigantic  war.     In  the  first  place  the  left  is  com- 
posed very  largely  of  the  type  of  cavalry  which 
I  think  no  other  country  in  the  world  can  dupli- 
cate,   that    is    the    irregular    horsemen    brought 
from   all   parts   of   the   East.     Tribes   from   the 
Caucasus,    Tartars,    Mongols,    and   I    know   not 
what  others,  are  here  welded  together  into  bri- 
gades and  divisions,  and  make,  all  told,  nearly 
two  complete  army  corps  with  only  a  sprinkling 
of  infantry   and  regular    cavalry.     It   was  this 
army   that    gained   such    headway   in     its    ad- 
vance   toward    the    Hungarian    plain,    and    it 
is  this  very  army  that  is  credited  with  so  alarm- 
ing the  Hungarians  that  they  threatened  indepen- 
dent peace  unless  something  was  done  for  them. 
That  something  we  know  now  was  Austria's  wail  to 
Germany  and  the  resulting  Galician  campaign. 

—  247  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

During  all  the  first  part  of  the  great  German 
drive,  this  army  with  its  hordes  of  wild  cavalry 
was  proceeding  confidently  "hacking  its  way 
through"  all  resistance,  and  capturing  thousands 
upon  thousands  of  Austrians  or  Hungarians 
that  came  in  its  way.  For  nearly  a  month 
after  things  were  going  badly  in  the  West,  it 
was  moving  victoriously  forward  until  it  became 
evident  that  unless  it  stopped  it  would  find  itself 
an  independent  expedition  headed  for  Buda- 
pest and  completely  out,  of  touch  with  the  rest 
of  the  Russian  line  which  was  withdrawing 
rapidly.  Then  came  a  pause,  and  as  the  flanking 
armies  continued  to  retreat,  the  army  was  very 
unwillingly  obliged  to  retire  also  to  keep  in 
touch  with  its  neighbour.  My  own  impression 
as  to  the  spirits  of  this  army,  especially  of  the 
cavalry  corps,  is  similar  to  the  impression  one 
forms  when  one  sees  a  bulldog  being  let  loose 
from  another  hound  whom  he  has  down,  and  is 
chewing  luxuriously  when  his  master  comes 
along,  and  drags  him  away  on  a  leash.  So 
these  troops  have  retired  snarling  and  barking 
over  their  shoulders,  hoping  that  the  enemy 
would  follow  close  enough  to  let  them  have 
another  brush  with  them. 

There  has  been  fighting  of  more  or  less  acute- 
ness,  especially  where  German  troops  have  been 
engaged,  but  taken  on  the  whole  this  portion  of 

•—  248  — 


G.  H.  Mewes. 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

the  Russian  front  cannot  be  considered  a  serious 
one  and  their  withdrawal  has  been  forced  by 
the  greater  strategy.  I  found  many  of  the 
younger  officers  of  the  opinion  that  they  could 
advance  at  any  time  if  they  only  had  the  per- 
mission from  the  powers  that  be.  As  for  the 
soldiers — a  single  look  into  those  set  swarthy 
faces  was  enough  to  satisfy  one  that  they  would 
willingly  advance  in  any  event  regardless  of  policy 
or  orders  either.  I  have  never  seen  such  fierce 
looking  men  in  my  life.  Many  of  them  do  not 
speak  Russian,  and  to  them  the  war  is  a  real 
joy.  Heretofore  they  have  had  to  be  content 
to  fight  among  themselves  for  nothing  in  particu- 
lar ;  now  that  they  have  a  chance  to  fight  for 
something  really  great  they  are  in  their  ele- 
ment. I  question  how  valuable  troops  of  this 
character  would  be  under  different  conditions, 
but  here  in  this  rough  Bukovina  country  they 
are  nearly  ideal  for  their  work,  as  is  manifest 
from  the  manner  in  which  they  have  swept  the 
enemy  before  them. 

On  leaving  Tamopol  we  came  directly  to  the 
head-quarters  of  one  of  these  corps,  where  we 
spent  three  extremely  interesting  days.  The 
position  which  this  army  was  holding  is,  in  a 
rough  way,  from  the  junction  of  the  Zota  Lipa 
and  the  Dniester,  down  that  river  to  a  point 
perhaps   20  versts   west  of   Chocin,  and  thence 

—  249  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

in  an  irregular  line  40  or  50  versts  through 
Bukovina  in  the  direction  of  the  Roumanian 
frontier.  The  Dniester  itself  is  a  deep-fiowing 
river  lying  between  great  bluffs  which  for  miles 
skirt  the  river  bank  on  both  sides.  These  bluffs 
are  for  the  most  part  crested  with  heavy  timber. 
In  a  general  way  the  Russians  are  holding  one 
bank,  and  the  Austrians  the  other,  though  here 
and  there  patches  of  Russians  have  clung 
to  the  South  side,  while  in  one  or  two  spots 
Austrians  backed  by  Germans  have  gained  a 
foothold  on  the  north  bank.  The  first  afternoon 
I  arrived,  I  went  out  to  a  356  metre  hill  from 
where  I  could  look  over  the  whole  country. 
I  discerned  easily  the  lines  of  the  Austrian  and 
Russian  positions  between  which  was  the  valley 
through  which  flowed  the  Dniester.  There  are 
any  number  of  young  Petrograd  swells  here 
who  have  left  their  crack  cavalry  corps,  many 
of  which  are  dismounted  and  fighting;  in  the 
trenches  in  Poland  and  on  other  fronts,  to  put 
on  the  uniform  of  the  Cossack  and  lead  these 
rough  riders  of  the  East  in  their  romantic  sweeps 
towards  the  Hungarian  plains.  I  have  been  in 
some  armies  where  I  found  hardly  any  one  who 
spoke  English,  but  in  this  one  corps  I  found 
nearly  a  score  who  spoke  it,  many  as  well  as  I 
did,  which  indicates  pretty  clearly  the  type  of 
young   men   that   Russia  has  here,  and   is   one 

—  250  — 


cc 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

reason,  no  doubt,  why  the  army  has  done  so  well. 

Here  I  met  Count  Tolstoi,  son  of  the  novelist ; 
Count  Keller,  whose  father  was  killed  by  Japanese 
shrapnel  on  the  Motienling  Pass  in  Manchuria, 
and  many  other  men  whose  names  are  well 
known  in  Russia.  Count  Keller  was  the  ranking 
Captain  in  a  squadron  (sotnia,  I  believe  they 
call  it)  of  cavalry  from  the  Caucasus,  and  carried 
us  off  to  his  lair  in  a  valley  not  far  from  the 
Dniester.  Here  we  met  a  courteous  old  Persian 
who  commanded  the  regiment,  and  dined  in 
a  quaint  old  castle  where  they  had  their  head- 
quarters. Deep  in  its  little  valley,  the  castle 
was  not  seen  by  the  Austrians,  but  had  long 
since  been  spotted  by  the  aeroplanes  of  the 
enemy.  The  result  was  that  every  afternoon  a 
few  shells  were  sent  over  the  southern  ridge 
of  hills,  just  to  let  the  regimental  staff  know 
that  they  were  not  forgotten.  The  day  before 
we  arrived  twelve  horses  were  killed  in  the  gar- 
den, and  while  we  were  cleaning  up  for  dinner, 
a  shrapnel  shell  whined  through  the  yard  burst- 
ing somewhere  off  in  the  brush. 

After  dinner  the  dancers  of  the  regiment  came 
up  and  in  the  half-light  performed  their  weird 
evolutions.  In  long  flowing  coats,  with  their 
oriental  faces,  emitting  uncanny  sounds  from 
their  mouths,  they  formed  a  picture  that  I  shall 
long  remember.     Count  Keller  told  me  that  in 

—  251  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

spite  of  all  their  wildness  they  were  fine  troops 
to  command,  for,  as  he  said,  ''  They  have  very 
high  ideals  of  their  profession.  I  may  be  killed 
or  wounded,  but  I  am  always  sure  that  my  men 
will  never  leave  me.  They  cannot  speak  my 
tongue,  but  there  is  not  a  man  in  my  command 
who  would  not  feel  himself  permanently  disgraced 
if  he  left  the  body  of  his  ofhcer  on  the  field  of 
battle.  They  are  absolutely  fearless  and  will 
go  anywhere,  caring  nothing  whatever  for  death, 
wounds,  hardship  or  anything  else  that  war 
brings  forth.  I  am  very  fond  of  them  indeed." 
The  positions  at  this  point  were  about  three 
versts  distant  from  our  little  isolated  valley, 
and  as  they  were  out  on  the  crest  of  the  bluff 
it  was  impossible  to  visit  them  until  after  dark. 
So  on  the  great  veranda  of  the  castle  we  sat 
late  after  our  dinner,  until  darkness  fell  and  a 
great  full  moon  rose  slowly  above  the  neighbour- 
ing hills  flooding  the  valley  with  its  silver  rays, 
bringing  out  the  old  white  castle  as  clearly  in 
the  darkness  as  a  picture  emerges  from  a  photo- 
graphic plate  when  the  developer  is  poured  upon 
it.  It  was  just  after  midnight  when  Count 
Keller  and  I,  well  mounted  on  Cossack  ponies, 
rode  down  into  the  valley  and  turned  our  horses 
on  to  the  winding  road  that  runs  beside  the 
little  stream  that  leaps  and  gurgles  over  the 
rocks  on  the  way  to  the  Dniester.     For  a  mile 

—  252  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

or  more  we  followed  the  river,  and  then  turning 
sharply  to  the  right,  took  a  bridle  path  and 
climbed  slowly  up  the  sharp  side  of  the  bluff. 
For  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  we  rode  through 
the  woods,  now  in  the  shadow  and  now  out  in  an 
opening  where  the  shadows  of  the  branches 
swaying  softly  in  the  moonlight  made  patterns 
on  the  road.  Suddenly  we  came  out  upon  a 
broad  white  road  where  the  Count  paused. 

''  We  are  advised  to  leave  the  horses  here,'* 
he  remarked  casually,  ''  Shall  we  go  on  ?  Are 
you  afraid  ? ''  Not  knowing  anything  about 
the  position  I  had  no  ideas  on  the  subject,  so 
we  continued  down  the  moonlit  road,  and  while 
I  was  wondering  where  we  were,  we  came  out 
abruptly  on  the  bluff  just  above  the  river, 
where  the  great  white  road  ran  along  the  crest 
for  a  mile  or  more.  I  paused  for  a  moment  to 
admire  the  view.  Deep  down  below  us,  like 
a  ribbon  of  silver  in  the  shimmering  moonlight, 
lay  the  great  river.  Just  across  on  the  other 
bank  was  the  Austrian  line  with  here  and  there 
spots  of  flickering  light  where  the  Austrians  had 
fires  in  their  trenches.  There  was  not  a  sound 
to  mar  the  silence  of  the  perfect  night  save  the 
gentle  rustle  of  the  wind  in  the  trees.  ''  The 
Austrians  can  see  us  plainly  from  here,"  re- 
marked the  Count  indifferently.  ''  Gallop ! ''  The 
advice  seemed  sound  to  me,  but   not   knowing 

—  253  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

the  country  I  was  obliged  to  reply,  *'  Which 
way  ?  "     *'  Right,"  he  replied  laconically. 

It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  I  put  spurs  to  my 
horse,  and  for  the  mile  that  lay  exposed  in  the 
moonlight  my  little  animal  almost  flew  while  the 
Count  pounded  along  a  close  second  just  behind 
me.  A  mile  away  we  reached  the  welcome 
shadows  of  a  small  bunch  of  trees,  and  as  I  rode 
into  the  wood  I  was  sharply  challenged  by  a 
guttural  voice,  and  as  I  pulled  my  horse  up 
on  his  haunches  a  wild-looking  Cossack  took 
my  bridle.  Before  I  had  time  to  begin  an  ex- 
planation, the  Count  came  up  and  the  sharp 
words  of  the  challenge  were  softened  to  polite 
speeches  of  welcome  from  the  officer  in  command. 

We  were  in  the  front  line  trench  or  rather 
just  behind  it,  for  the  road  lay  above  it  while 
the  trench  itself  was  between  it  and  the  river 
where  it  could  command  the  crossing  with  its 
fire.  Here  as  elsewhere,  I  found  men  who  could 
speak  English,  the  one  an  officer  and  the  other 
a  man  in  charge  of  a  machine  gun.  This  man 
had  been  five  years  in  Australia  and  had  come 
back  to  ''  fight  the  Germans,"  as  he  said.  For 
an  hour  we  sat  up  on  the  crest  of  the  trench 
under  the  shadow  of  a  tree,  and  watched  in  the 
sky  the  flare  of  a  burning  village  to  our  right, 
which  was  behind  the  Russian  lines,  and  had 
been  fired  just  at  dark  by  Austrian  shells.     I 

—  254  — 


«1) 

I 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

found  that  all  the  Russians  spoke  well  of  the 
Austrians.  They  said  they  were  kindly  and  good- 
natured,  never  took  an  unfair  advantage,  lived 
up  to  their  flags  of  truce,  etc.  Their  opinion  of 
the  Germans  was  exactly  the  opposite.  One 
man  said,  ''  Sometimes  the  Austrians  call  across 
that  they  won't  shoot  during  the  night.  Then 
we  all  feel  easy  and  walk  about  in  the  moon- 
light. One  of  our  soldiers  even  went  down  and 
had  a  bathe  in  the  river,  while  the  Austrians 
called  across  to  him  jokes  and  remarks,  which 
of  course  he  could  not  understand.  The  Germans 
say  they  won't  fire,  and  just  as  soon  as  our  men 
expose  themselves  they  begin  to  shoot.  They 
are  always  that  way." 

I  have  never  known  a  more  absolutely 
quiet  and  peaceful  scene  than  this  from  the 
trench  on  the  river's  bluff.  As  I  was  looking 
up  the  streak  of  silver  below  us,  thinking 
thus,  there  came  a  deep  boom  from  the  east 
and  then  another  and  another,  and  then  on 
the  quiet  night  the  sharp  crackle  of  the 
machine  guns  and  the  rip  and  roar  of  volley 
firing.  It  was  one  of  those  spasms  of  fighting 
that  ripple  up  and  down  a  line  every  once  in  a 
while,  but  after  a  few  minutes  it  died  away,  the 
last  echoes  drifting  away  over  the  hills,  and 
silence  again  reigned  over  the  Dniester.  The 
fire  in  the  village  was  burning  low,  and  the  first 

—  255  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

grey  streaks  of  dawn  were  tinging  the  horizon 
in  the  east  when  we  left  the  trench,  and  by  a 
safer  bridle  path  returned  to  the  castle  and 
took  our  motor-car  for  head-quarters  which  we 
reached  just  as  the  sun  was  rising. 

The  positions  along  this  whole  front  are  of  natural 
defence  and  have  received  and  required  little  atten- 
tion. Rough  shelter  for  the  men,  and  cover  for 
the  machine  guns  is  about  all  that  any  one 
seems  to  care  for  here.  The  fighting  is  regarded 
by  these  wild  creatures  as  a  sort  of  movable 
feast,  and  they  fight  now  in  one  place  and  now 
in  another.  Of  course  they  have  distinctive 
lines  of  trenches,  though  they  cannot  compare 
with  the  substantial  works  that  one  finds  in 
the  Bzura-Rawka  lines  and  the  other  really 
serious  fronts  in  Poland  and  elsewhere.  In  a 
general  way  it  matters  very  little  whether  the 
army  moves  forward  or  backward  just  here. 
The  terrain  for  lOO  versts  is  adapted  to  defence, 
and  the  army  can,  if  it  had  to  do  so,  go 
back  so  far  without  yielding  to  the  enemy  any- 
thing that  would  have  any  important  bearing 
on  the  campaign  of  the  Russian  Army  as  a  whole. 
From  the  first  day  that  I  joined  this  army,  I  felt 
the  conviction  that  it  could  be  relied  upon  to 
take  care  of  itself,  and  that  its  retirements  or 
changes  of  front  could  be  viewed  with  something 
approaching  to  equanimity. 

—  256  — 


WITH  A  RUSSIAN  CAVALRY  CORPS 


CHAPTER    XIX 
WITH    A    RUSSIAN    CAVALRY    CORPS 

On  the  Dniester, 

July  4,  1915. 

IT  would  not  be  in  the  least  difficult  for  me  to 
write  a  small  volume  on  my  impressions 
and  observations  during  the  time  that  I  was  with 
this  particular  cavalry  corps  on  the  Dniester ; 
but  one  assumes  that  at  this  advanced  period 
in  the  war,  readers  are  pretty  well  satiated  with 
descriptive  material  of  all  sorts,  and  there  is  so 
much  news  of  vital  importance  from  so  many 
different  fronts,  that  the  greatest  merit  of  de- 
scriptive writing  in  these  days  no  doubt  lies  in 
its  brevity.  I  will  therefore  cut  as  short  as 
possible  the  account  of  my  stay  in  this  very 
interesting  organization. 

The  General  in  command  was  a  tough  old 
cavalry  officer  who  spoke  excellent  English. 
He  was  of  the  type  that  one  likes  to  meet  at 
the  Front,  and  his  every  word  and  act  spoke  of 
efficiency  and  of  the  soldier  who  loves  his  pro- 
fession. His  head-quarters  were  in  a  little  dirty 
village,  and  his  rooms  weie  in  the  second  story 

—  259  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

of  an  equally  unpretentious  building.  The  room 
contained  a  camp-bed  and  a  group  of  tables 
on  which  were  spread  the  inevitable  maps  of 
the  positions.  This  particular  General  as  far 
as  I  could  gather  spent  about  one  half  of 
each  day  poring  over  his  maps,  and  the  other 
half  in  visiting  his  positions.  Certainly  he 
seemed  to  know  every  foot  of  the  terrain  occupied 
by  his  command,  and  every  by-path  and  cross- 
road seemed  perfectly  familar  to  him.  With- 
out the  slightest  reservation  (at  least  as  far  as 
I  could  observe)  he  explained  to  me  his  whole  posi- 
tion, pointing  it  out  on  the  map.  When  he  began  to 
talk  of  his  campaign  he  immediately  became  en- 
grossed in  its  intricacies.  Together  we  pored  over 
his  map.  ''  You  see,''  he  said, ''  I  have  my  —  bri- 
gade here.  To  the  left  in  the  ravine  I  have 
one  battery  of  big  guns  just  where  I  can  use 
them  nicely.  Over  here  you  see  I  have  a  bridge 
and  am  across  the  river.  Now  the  enemy  is  on 
this  side  here  (and  he  pointed  at  a  blue  mark  on  the 
map)  but  I  do  not  mind  ;  if  he  advances  I  shall 
give  him  a  push  here  (and  again  he  pointed  at 
another  point  on  the  map),  and  with  my  infantry 
brigade  I  shall  attack  him  just  here,  and  as  you 
see  he  will  have  to  go  back '' ;  and  thus  for  half 
an  hour  he  talked  of  the  problems  that  were 
nearest  and  dearest  to  his  heart.  He  was  fully 
alive    to    the    benefits    that  publicity  might  give 

—  260  — 


H.I.H.  The  Grand  Duke  Michael  Alexandre vitch,  Commander  of 
two  divisions  of  Cossacks. 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

an  army,  and  did  everything  in  his  power  to 
make  our  visit  as  pleasant  and  profitable  as 
possible. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  Prince 
Oblensky  arranged  for  us  to  meet  the  Grand 
Duke  Michael  who  is  commanding  a  division  of 
Caucasian  cavalry,  one  of  whose  detachments 
we  visited  in  the  trenches  a  few  nights  ago.  I 
should  say  he  is  not  much  over  forty  years  of 
age,  and  he  is  as  unaffected  and  democratic 
a  person  as  one  can  well  imagine.  I  talked 
with  him  for  nearly  an  hour  on  the  situation, 
not  only  on  his  immediate  front  but  in  the  theatre 
of  the  war  as  a  whole.  Like  every  one  in  Russian 
uniform  whom  I  have  met,  he  was  neither  de- 
pressed nor  discouraged,  but  evinced  the  same 
stubborn  optimism  that  one  finds  everywhere 
in  the  Russian  army.  As  one  saw  him  in  his 
simple  uniform  with  nothing  to  indicate  his 
rank  but  shoulder  straps  of  the  same  material 
as  his  uniform,  and  barring  the  Cross  of  St. 
George  (won  by  his  personal  valour  on  the  field 
of  battle)  without  a  decoration,  it  was  strange 
to  think  that  this  man  living  so  simply  in  a 
dirty  village  in  this  far  fringe  of  the  Russian 
Front,  might  have  been  the  Czar  of  all  the  Rus- 
sias,  living  in  the  Winter  Palace  in  Petrograd,  but 
for  a  few  years  in  time  of  birth.  The  Western 
World  likes  to  think  of  Russia  as  an  autocracy, 

—  261  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

with  its  nobility  living  a  life  apart  surrounded 
by  form  and  convention,  but  now,  at  any  rate,  I 
think  there  is  no  country  in  the  world  where  the 
aristocracy  are  more  democratic  than  in  Russia. 
It  is  true  that  the  Czar  himself  is  inaccessible,  but 
he  is  about  the  only  man  in  Russia  who  is  ;  and 
even  he,  when  one  does  meet  him,  is  as  simple, 
unaffected  and  natural  as  any  ordinary  gentleman 
in  England  or  in  America. 

From  the  Grand  Duke's  head-quarters  I 
motored  out  to  the  Staff  of  a  Cavalry  Brigade, 
and  had  tea  with  the  General  who,  after  enter- 
taining us  with  a  dance  performed  by  a  group 
of  his  tamed  ''  wild  men,''  went  himself  with 
us  to  his  front  line  trench.  His  head-quarters 
were  near  the  front,  so  near  in  fact  that  while 
we  were  waiting  for  the  dancers  to  appear,  a 
big  shell  fell  in  a  field  just  across  the  way,  with 
a  report  that  sent  the  echoes  rolling  away  over 
hill  and  valley.  It  is  considered  bad  form  to 
notice  these  interruptions  however,  and  no  one 
winked  an  eye  or  took  any  notice  of  the  inci- 
dent. The  General's  trenches  were  not  unhke 
those  I  had  already  before  visited,  except 
that  one  could  get  into  them  in  the  daytime 
without  risk  of  being  shot  at  if  one  came  up 
through  the  woods,  which  ran  rather  densely 
to  the  very  crest  of  the  bluff. 

Here  was  the  most  curious  sight  that  I  have 
—  262  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

ever  seen  in  war.  The  rough-and-ready  cavalry- 
men from  the  Caucasus  with  their  great  caps, 
each  as  big  as  a  bushel  basket,  all  covered  with 
wool  about  six  inches  long,  were  lying  about 
behind  small  earthworks  on  the  fringe  of  the 
woods  peering  along  their  rifle  barrels  which 
were  pointed  across  the  river.  On  an  almost 
similar  elevation  on  the  opposite  side  was  the 
line  of  the  Austrian  trenches.  For  once  the 
sun  was  over  our  shoulders,  and  in  their  eyes 
and  not  ours,  so  that  I  could  safely  walk  to  the 
edge  of  the  wood  and  study  their  works  through 
my  field  glasses.  Everything  was  very  quiet 
this  particular  afternoon,  and  I  could  see  the 
blue-coated  figures  of  the  enemy  moving  about 
behind  their  own  trenches,  as  indeed  the  Russians 
could  with  their  naked  eyes.  The  war  has 
lasted  so  long  now,  and  the  novelty  has  so  worn 
off,  that  it  is  safe  to  do  many  things  that  could 
not  have  been  done  in  the  early  months.  No 
one  nowadays  is  anxious  to  start  anything  un- 
necessary, and  sniping  is  a  bore  to  all  concerned, 
and  it  hardly  draws  a  shot  if  one  or  two  men 
are  seen  moving  about.  It  is  only  when  impor- 
tant groups  appear  that  shots  are  fired. 

Not  two  hundred  yards  back  in  the  woods  were 
the  bivouacs  of  the  reserves,  and  the  hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  the  little  ponies  tethered  to 
trees.     There  they  stood  dozing  in  the  summer 

-—  263  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

sunshine,  twitching  their  tails  and  nipping  each 
other  occasionally.  I  have  never  seen  cavalry 
in  the  trenches  before,  much  less  cavalry  with 
their  horses  so  near  that  they  could  actually 
wait  until  the  enemy  were  almost  in  their  works 
and  then  mount  and  be  a  mile  away  before  the 
trench  itself  was  occupied.  In  this  rough 
country  where  the  positions  lend  themselves  to 
this  sort  of  semi-regular  work,  I  dare  say  these 
peculiar  types  of  horsemen  are  extremely  effective, 
though  I  question  if  they  would  appear  to  the 
same  advantage  in  other  parts  of  the  Russian 
operations.  As  a  matter  of  fact  one  of  the 
regiments  now  here  was  formerly  attached  to 
the  Warsaw  Front,  but  was  subsequently  removed 
from  that  army  and  sent  down  to  Bukovina  as 
a  place  more  suited  to  its  qualities. 

We  had  a  bit  of  bad  luck  on  this  posi- 
tion with  our  motor-car  which  we  had  left 
in  a  dip  behind  the  line.  Just  as  we  were 
ready  to  start  for  home,  there  came  a  sharp 
rainstorm  which  so  wetted  the  roads  that  the 
hill  we  had  come  down  so  smoothly  on  dry 
soil  proved  impossible  to  go  up  when  wet. 
A  sotnia  of  Cossacks  pulled  us  out  of  our  first 
mess  with  shouts  and  hurrahs,  but  when  night 
fell  we  found  ourselves  in  another  just  as  bad  a 
few  hundreds  yards  further  along.  For  an  hour 
we  went  through  the  misery  of  spinning    wheels 

—  264  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

and  racing  engines  without  effect.  We  had 
stopped,  by  bad  luck,  in  about  the  only  place 
where  the  road  was  visible  from  the  Austrian 
lines,  but  as  it  was  dark  they  could  not  see  us. 
When  the  chauffeur  lighted  his  lamps,  however, 
three  shells  came  over  from  the  enemy,  extin- 
guishing the  lamps.  About  ten  in  the  evening 
we  started  on  foot,  and  walked  to  a  point  where 
we  borrowed  a  car  from  the  brigade  staff,  and 
went  on  home.  Our  own  car  was  extricated  at 
daylight  by  a  band  of  obliging  Cossacks  who 
had  been  on  duty  all  night  in  the  trenches,  and 
were  going  into  the  reserve  for  a  day's  rest. 

Leaving  this  army  corps  in  the  afternoon  we 
motored  further  east,  and  paid  our  respects  to  a 
brigade  of  the  regular  cavalry,  composed  of 
the  — th  Lancers  and  the  —  Hussars,  both 
crack  cavalry  regiments  of  the  Russian  army, 
and  each  commanded  by  officers  from  the  Petro- 
grad  aristocracy.  The  brigade  had  been  in 
reserve  for  three  days,  and  as  we  saw  it  was  just 
being  paraded  before  its  return  to  the  trenches. 
The  — th  Lancers  I  had  seen  before  in  Lwow  just 
after  the  siege  of  Przemysl,  in  which  they  took 
part,  at  that  time  fighting  in  the  trenches  along- 
side of  the  infantry.  I  have  never  seen  mounts 
in  finer  condition,  and  I  believe  there  is  no  army 
on  any  of  the  fronts  where  this  is  more  typical 
than  in  the  Russian.     On  this  trip  I  have  been 

—  265  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

in  at  least  fifteen  or  twenty  cavalry  units, 
and,  with  one  exception,  I  have  not  seen  any- 
where horses  in  bad  shape;  the  exception  had 
been  working  overtime  for  months  without 
chance  to  rest  or  replace  their  mounts.  The 
Colonel  of  the  Lancers  I  had  known  before  in 
Lwow,  and  he  joined  me  in  my  motor  and  rode 
with  me  the  20  versts  to  the  position  that 
his  cavalry  was  going  to  relieve  at  that  time. 
This  gentleman  was  an  ardent  cavalryman  and 
had  served  during  the  greater  part  of  the  Man- 
churian  campaign.  To  my  surprise  I  found  that 
he  had  been  in  command  of  a  squadron  of  Cos- 
sacks that  came  within  an  ace  of  capturing  the 
little  town  of  Fakumen  where  was  Nogi's  staff ; 
and  he  was  as  much  surprised  to  learn  that  I  was 
attached  to  Nogi's  staff  there  as  correspondent 
for  an  American  paper. 

The  Colonel  was  now  in  charge  of  the  Lancer 
regiment  and  was,  as  I  learned,  a  great  believer 
in  the  lance  as  a  weapon.  ''  Other  things  being 
equal,''  he  told  me,  ''  I  believe  in  giving  the 
soldiers  what  they  want.  They  do  want  the 
lance,  and  this  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  in  this 
entire  campaign  not  one  of  my  troopers  has 
lost  his  lance.  The  moral  effect  is  good  on  our 
troops,  for  it  gives  them  confidence,  and  it  is 
bad  on  the  enemy,  for  it  strikes  terror  into  their 
hearts.     Before   this  war  it   was  supposed  that 

—  266  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

cavalry  could  never  get  near  infantry.  My 
regiment  has  twice  attacked  infantry  and  broken 
them  up  both  times.  In  both  cases  they  broke 
while  we  were  still  three  or  four  hundred  yards 
distant,  and  of  course  the  moment  they  broke 
they  were  at  our  mercy.'' 

For  an  hour  or  more  we  motored  over  the  dusty 
roads  before  we  dipped  over  a  crest  and  dropped 
down  into  a  little  village  not  far  from  the  Dniester, 
where  were  the  head-quarters  of  the  regiment  that 
the  Lancers  were  coming  in  to  relieve.  As  we 
turned  the  corner  of  the  village  street  a  shrapnel 
shell  burst  just  to  the  south  of  us,  and  I  have 
an  idea  that  someone  had  spotted  our  dust  as 
we  came  over  the  crest. 

The  cavalry  here  was  a  regiment  drawn  from 
the  region  of  the  Amur  river,  and  as  they  were 
just  saddling  up  preparatory  to  going  back 
into  reserve  for  a  much-needed  rest,  I  had 
a  good  chance  to  note  the  condition  of  both 
men  and  mounts,  which  were  excellent.  The 
latter  were  Siberian  ponies,  which  make,  I  think, 
about  the  best  possible  horses  for  war  that  one 
can  find.  They  are  tough,  strong,  live  on  almost 
anything,  and  can  stand  almost  any  extremes 
of  cold  or  heat  without  being  a  bit  the  worse 
for  it.  These  troops  have  had,  I  suppose,  as 
hard  work  as  any  cavalry  in  the  Russian 
Army,  yet    the   ponies   were   as   fat    as    butter 

—  267  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

and  looked  as  contented  as  kittens.  The 
Russians  everywhere  I  have  seen  them  are 
devoted  to  their  horses,  and  what  I  say  about 
the  condition  of  the  animals  applies  not  only  to 
the  cavalry  but  even  to  the  transport,  to  look 
at  which,  one  would  never  imagine  that  we  were 
in  the  twelfth  month  of  war.  The  Colonel  of 
the  Amur  Cavalry  gave  us  tea  and  begged  us 
to  stay  on,  but  as  it  was  getting  late  and  the 
road  we  had  to  travel  was  a  new  one  to  us,  and 
at  points  ran  not  far  from  the  lines  of  the  enemy, 
we  deemed  it  wiser  to  be  on  our  way.  Some 
sort  of  fight  started  after  dark,  and  to  the  south 
of  us,  from  the  crests  of  the  hills  that  we  crossed, 
we  could  see  the  flare  of  the  Austrian  rockets 
and  the  occasional  jagged  flash  of  a  bursting 
shell ;  further  off  still  the  sky  was  dotted  with 
the  glow  of  burning  villages.  In  fact  for  the 
better  part  of  the  week  I  spent  in  this  vicinity 
I  do  not  think  that  there  was  a  single  night 
that  one  could  not  count  fires  lighted  by  the 
shells  from  the  artillery  fire. 

Midnight  found  us  still  on  the  road,  but  our 
Prince,  who  was  ever  resourceful,  discovered 
the  estate  of  an  Austrian  noble  not  far  from 
the  main  road,  and  we  managed  to  knock  up 
the  keeper  and  get  him  to  let  us  in  for  the  night. 
The  Count  who  owned  the  place  was  in  the 
Austrian  Army,  and  the  Countess  was  in  Vienna. 

—  268  — 


o 

•Ofl 

•d 

> 
u 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

Leaving  this  place  early  the  following  morning 
we  started  back  for  Tarnopol  and  the  Head- 
quarters of  the  Army  that  stands  second  in  the 
Russian  line  of  battle  counting  from  the  left 
flank. 


—  269  — 


ON  THE  ZOTA  LIPA 


CHAPTER  XX 

ON    THE    ZOTA    LIPA 

Tarnopol, 
July  6,   1 915. 

WE  found  the  General  of  the  army  now 
occupying  the  line  that  runs  from 
approximately  the  head  of  the  Zota  Lipa  to 
its  confluence  with  the  Dniester,  living  in  a  palace 

south-west    of    .     These    wonderful    estates 

come  as  a  great  surprise  to  strangers  travelling 
through  the  country.  One  passes  a  sordid  Gali- 
cian  village  filled  with  dogs  and  half-naked 
children,  and  perhaps  on  the  outskirts  one  comes 
to  a  great  gate  and  turning  in  finds  oneself  in 
a  veritable  Versailles,  with  beautiful  avenues 
of  trees,  lakes,  waterfalls  and  every  other  en- 
hancement of  the  landscape  that  money  and  good 
taste  can  procure.  I  have  never  seen  more  beau- 
tiful grounds  or  a  more  attractively  decorated  and 
beautifully  furnished  house  than  this  one  where 
our  particular  General  was  living  with  his  staff. 
During  my  visit  to  this  army,  I  saw  and  talked 
with  the  General  commanding  twice,  and  he 
permitted  me  to  see  his  maps  and  gave  his 
consent  to  my  visiting  any  of  his  line  which  I 
—  273  —  T 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

desired  to  see.  He  sent  one  of  his  staff  with  me, 
who  spoke  EngHsh,  as  a  guide  and  interpreter. 
Again  I  regret  I  cannot  give  the  General's  name, 
but  suffice  to  say  that  from  this  head-quarters 
I  gathered  that,  barring  the  failure  of  their  centre 
army,  a  retreat  would  probably  have  been  un- 
necessary, though  it  is  folly  to  disguise  the  fact 
that  this  army  was  hard  pressed,  suffered  not 
a  little,  and  was  constantly  outnumbered  in 
both  men  and  munitions.  It  is  probably  not 
unfair  to  place  its  whole  movement  under  the 
category  of  a  rear-guard  action. 

During  the  retreat  from  Stryj  to  the  Zota 
Lipa,  where  the  army  was  when  I  visited  it, 
captures  of  enemy  prisoners  were  made  to  the 
number  of  53,000,  as  I  was  informed  by  the 
highest  authority.  The  bulk  of  these  were  Aus- 
trians.  As  I  said  at  the  time,  I  incline  to  think 
this  must  be  considered  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able retreats  in  history.  If  I  was  disposed  to 
doubt  this  statement  when  I  first  heard  it,  my 
hesitation  vanished,  when,  during  three  days, 
I  personally  saw  between  4,000  and  5,000  Aus- 
trian prisoners  that  had  been  taken  within  a 
week,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  the  army  was 
still  retiring  before  the  enemy.  I  think  that 
the  mere  mention  of  the  matter  of  prisoners 
is  enough  to  convince  the  reader  that  this  army 
was  not  a  demoralized  one,  and  that  the 
—  274  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

furthest  stretch  of  imagination  could  not  consider 
it  a  badly  defeated  one.  A  glance  at  the  map 
serves  to  show  that  the  country,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  this  retreat  to  the  Zota  Lipa,  is  an 
ideal  one  in  which  to  fight  defensively  !  and  as 
a  matter  of  fact  the  country  for  loo  versts 
further  east  is  equally  well  adapted  to  the  same 
purpose.  A  number  of  streams  running  almost 
due  north  and  south  flow  into  the  Dniester 
river,  and  as  each  of  these  rivulets  runs  between 
more  or  less  pretentious  bluffs  it  is  a  very  simple 
matter  to  hold  them  with  very  little  fieldworks. 
What  the  Russians  have  been  doing  here  is 
this.  They  take  up  one  of  these  natural  lines 
of  defence  and  throw  up  temporary  works  on 
the  bluffs  and  wait  for  the  Austrians.  When 
the  latter  come  up  they  find  the  Russians  too 
strong  to  be  turned  out  with  anything  short  of 
the  full  enemy  strength.  Usually  a  week  is 
taken  up  by  the  Austro-German  forces  in  bring- 
ing up  their  full  strength,  getting  their  guns 
in  position  and  preparing  for  an  attack.  The 
Russians  in  the  meantime  sit  on  their  hills,  tak- 
ing all  the  losses  that  they  can  get,  and  repel 
the  Austrian  preliminary  attacks  as  long  as  they 
can  do  so  without  risking  too  much.  By  the 
time  that  enemy  operations  have  reached  a  really 
serious  stage,  and  an  attack  in  force  is  made, 
it  is  discovered  that  the  main  force  of  the  Rus- 
—  275  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

sians  has  departed,  and  when  the  positions 
are  finally  carried,  only  a  rearguard  of  cavalry 
is  discovered  holding  the  trenches ;  the  bulk 
of  these  usually  get  away  on  their  horses,  leaving 
the  exhausted  Austrians  sitting  in  a  hardly- 
won  line  with  the  knowledge  that  the  Russians 
are  already  miles  away  waiting  for  them  to  re- 
peat the  operation  all  over  again.  The  prisoners 
have  been  captured  for  the  most  part  in  pre- 
liminary operations  on  these  works,  on  occasions 
where  the  Russians  have  made  counter  attacks 
or  where  the  Austrians  have  advanced  too  far 
and  been  cut  off.  The  youth  and  inexperience 
of  their  officers,  and  the  fact  that  the  rank  and 
file  have  no  heart  in  the  fight,  have  made  it  easy 
for  them  to  go  too  far  in  the  first  place,  and 
willing  to  surrender  without  a  fight  when  they 
discover  their  mistake.  All  of  this  I  was  told 
at  head-quarters,  and  had  an  opportunity  to 
verify  the  next  day  by  going  to  one  of  the 
forward  positions  on  the  Zota  Lipa. 

I  have  within  the  last  few  months,  after  pok- 
ing about  on  the  billiard  table  terrain  of  the 
Polish  Front,  acquired  a  great  liking  for  hills, 
protected  by  woods  if  possible.  I  have  there- 
fore picked  places  on  this  trip  where  I  could 
get  to  points  of  observation  from  which  I  could 
see  the  terrain  without  being,  shot  at,  if  this  could 
be  avoided  with  dignity.  It  was  just  such  a 
—  276  — 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

place  as  this  towards  which  we  headed  the  next 
day.  My  own  impressions  were,  and  still  are, 
that  this  army  might  retire  further  yet  from 
its  present  positions.  There  are  certain  rea- 
sons which  I  cannot  divulge  at  present,  but 
are  no  doubt  understood  in  England,  that  makes 
it  unwise  for  these  armies  to  attempt  to  hold 
advance  positions  if  they  can  fall  quietly  back 
without  the  sacrifice  of  any  positions  which  will 
have  a  bad  effect  on  the  Russian  campaign  as 
a  whole.  This  particular  army  with  its  neigh- 
bour to  the  south  can  do  this  for  more  than 
100  versts  without  materially  impairing  its  own 
moral,  and,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  without  giving 
the  enemy  any  other  advantage  than  something 
to  talk  about. 

On  the  way  out  to  the  positions  I  passed  im- 
portant bodies  of  troops  ''  changing  front,"  for 
it  is  hardly  possible  to  call  what  I  witnessed, 
a  retreat.  They  came  swinging  down  the  road 
laughing,  talking  and  then  singing  at  the  top 
of  their  lungs.  Had  I  not  known  the  points 
of  the  compass,  I  should  have  concluded  that 
they  had  scored  a  decisive  victory  and  were 
marching  on  the  capital  of  the  enemy.  But  of 
such  stuff  are  the  moujik  soldiers  of  the  Czar. 

We  first  visited  the  head-quarters  of  one  of 
the  Army  corps,  and  then  motored  through  Ztoc- 
zow,  a  very  beautiful  little  Austrian  town  lying 
—  '277  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

just  at  the  gateway  between  ridges  of  hills  that 
merge  together  as  they  go  eastward,  making 
the  road  climb  to  the  plateau  land  which,  in- 
dented by  the  valleys  of  the  rivers  running  into 
the  Dniester,  stretches  practically  for  loo  versts 
east  of  here.  Turning  south  from  the  little 
town  we  climbed  up  on  to  this  plateau  land, 
and  motored  for  15  or  20  versts  south  to 
the  head-quarters  of  a  General  commanding 
a  division  of  Cossack  cavalry  from  the  Caucasus. 
With  him  we  had  tea,  and  as  he  spoke  excellent 
English  I  was  able  to  gather  much  of  interest 
from  his  point  of  view.  He  was  not  sufficiently 
near  head-quarters  nor  of  rank  high  enough 
to  be  taken  into  the  higher  councils,  and  there- 
fore did  not  know  the  reasons  for  the  constant 
retirements.  Again  and  again  he  assured  me 
that  the  positions  now  held  could  as  far  as  he 
was  concerned  be  retained  indefinitely.  His 
was  the  thankless  job  of  the  rear  guard,  and 
it  apparently  went  against  his  fighting  instincts 
to  occupy  these  splendid  positions  and  then  retire 
through  some  greater  strategy,  which  he,  far 
off  in  the  woods  from  everything,  did  not  under- 
stand. 

One   is   constantly  impressed  with   the  isola- 
tion of  the  men  holding  important  minor  com- 
mands.    For  days  and  weeks  they  are  without 
outside  news,  and  many  of  them  have  even  only 
—  278  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

a  vague  idea  as  to  what  is  going  on  in  neigh- 
bouring corps,  and  almost  none  at  all  of  the 
movements  in  adjoining  armies.  I  was  con- 
vinced from  the  way  this  General — and  he  was 
a  fine  old  type — talked,  that  he  did  not  consider 
his  men  had  ever  been  beaten  at  all,  and  that 
he  looked  upon  his  movements  merely  as  the 
result  of  orders  given  for  higher  strategic  consider- 
ations. From  him  we  went  out  to  the  line  on 
the  Zota  Lipa.  The  Russians  at  this  time 
had  retired  from  the  Gnita  Lipa  (the  great 
Austro-German  ''  victory "  where  they  lost  be- 
tween 4,000  and  5,000  prisoners  and  I  know  not 
how  many  dead  and  wounded)  and  had  now 
for  four  days  been  quietly  sitting  on  the  ridges 
of  the]  second  Lipa  waiting  for  the  enemy 
to  come  up.  I  think  no  army  can  beat  the 
Russians  when  it  comes  to  forced  marches, 
and  after  each  of  these  actions  they  have  re- 
tired in  two  days  a  distance  that  takes  the  enemy 
four  or  five  to  cover.  It  is  because  of  this  speed 
of  travel  that  there  have  been  stragglers,  and 
it  is  of  such  that  the  enemy  have  taken  the  prison- 
ers of  whom  they  boast  so  much.  The  posi- 
tion we  visited  was  on  a  wonderful  ridge  crested 
with  woods.  The  river  lay  so  deeply  in  its  little 
valley  that,  though  but  a  mile  away,  we  could 
not  see  the  water  at  all,  but  only  the  shadow 
wherein  it  lay.  Our  trenches  were  just  on  the 
—  279  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

edge  of  it  while  our  guns  and  reserves  were  be- 
hind us.  From  our  position  we  could  look  into 
the  rear  of  our  trenches,  and  across  the  river 
where  the  country  was  more  open  and  where 
the  Austrians  were  just  beginning  to  develop  their 
advance.  Though  the  Russians  had  been  here 
for  several  days,  the  enemy  was  just  coming  up  now 
and  had  not  yet  brought  up  his  guns  at  all. 

Our  infantry  were  sniping  at  the  blue  figures 
which  dotted  the  wood  a  verst  or  two  away,  but 
at  such  a  range  that  its  effect  was  not  apparent. 
Our  guns  had  not  yet  fired  a  shot,  and  hence 
the  Austrians  knew  nothing  of  our  position  but 
the  fact  that  they  were  in  contact  with  snipers 
in  some  sort  of  a  trench.  In  any  case  the 
Austrians  in  a  thin  blue  line  which  one  could 
see  with  the  naked  eye,  were  busily  digging  a 
trench  across  a  field  just  opposite  us  and  about 
4,000  metres  distant,  while  with  my  glasses 
I  could  see  the  blue-clad  figures  slipping  about 
on  the  fringe  of  the  wood  behind  their  trench 
diggers.  Our  observation  point  was  under  a 
big  tree  on  an  advanced  spur  of  the  hill,  a  posi- 
tion which  I  think  would  not  be  held  long  after 
the  arrival  of  the  Austrian  guns.  The  battery 
commander  had  screwed  his  hyperscope  into 
the  tree  trunk,  and  was  hopping  about  in  im- 
patience because  his  field  wire  had  not  yet  come 
up  from  the  battery  position  in  the  rear.  He 
—  280  — 


Cavalry  taking  up  position. 


Russian  band  playing  the  men  to  the  trenches. 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

smacked  his  lips  with  anticipation  as  he  saw 
the  constantly  increasing  numbers  of  the  enemy 
parading  about  opposite  without  any  cover, 
and  at  frequent  intervals  kept  sending  messen- 
gers to  hurry  on  the  field  telegraph  corps. 

In  a  few  minutes  there  came  a  rustle  in  the 
brush,  and  two  soldiers  with  a  reel  unwinding 
wire  came  over  the  crest,  and  dropping  on  their 
knees  behind  some  bushes  a  few  yards  away, 
made  a  quick  connection  with  the  telephone 
instrument,  and  then  announced  to  the  com- 
mander that  he  was  in  touch  with  his  guns.  In- 
stantly his  face  lit  up,  but  before  speaking  he 
turned  and  took  a  squint  through  his  hyperscope  ; 
then  with  clenched  fist  held  at  arms  length  he 
made  a  quick  estimate  of  the  range  and  snapped 
out  an  order  over  his  shoulder.  The  orderly 
at  the  'phone  mumbled  something  into  the  mouth- 
piece of  the  instrument.  ''  All  ready,"  he  called 
to  the  commander.  ''  Fire,"  came  the  quick 
response.  Instantly  there  came  a  crash  from 
behind  us.  I  had  not  realized  that  the  guns  were 
so  near  until  I  heard  the  report  and  the  shell 
whine  over  our  heads.  We  stood  with  our  glasses 
watching  the  Austrians.  A  few  seconds  later 
came  the  white  puff  in  the  air  appearing  sud- 
denly as  from  nowhere,  and  then  the  report 
of  the  explosion  drifted  back  to  us  on  the  breeze. 
The  shot  was  high  and  over.  Another  quick  order, 
—  281  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

and  another  screamed  over  our  head,  this  time 
bursting  well  in  front  of  the  trench. 

Through  my  glasses  I  could  see  that  there 
\.as  some  agitation  among  the  blue  figures 
in  the  field  across  the  river.  Again  the  gun 
behind  us  snapped  out  its  report,  and  this  time 
the  shell  burst  right  over  the  trench  and  the 
diggers  disappeared  as  by  magic,  and  even  the 
blue  coats  on  the  edge  of  the  wood  suddenly 
vanished  from  our  view.  The  artillery  officer 
smiled  quietly,  took  another  good  look  through 
the  glass  at  his  target,  called  back  an  order, 
and  the  battery  came  into  action  with  shell 
after  shell  breaking  directly  over  the  trench. 
But  as  far  as  we  could  see  there  was  not  a  living 
soul,  only  the  dark  brown  ridge  where  lay  the 
shallow  ditch  which  the  Austrians  had  been 
digging.  The  value  of  the  shrapnel  was  gone, 
and  the  Captain  sighed  a  little  as  he  called  for 
his  carefully  saved  and  precious  high-explosives, 
of  which  as  I  learned  he  had  very  few  to  spare. 
The  first  fell  directly  in  an  angle  of  the  trench, 
and  burst  with  the  heavy  detonation  of  the 
higher  explosive,  sending  up  a  little  volcano  of 
dust  and  smoke,  while  for  a  minute  the  hole 
smoked  as  though  the  earth  were  on  fire. 

''  They  are  in  that  place  right  enough,"  was 
the  verdict  of  the  director,  ''  I  saw  them  go. 
I'll  try  another,"  and  a  second  later  another 
—  282  — 


APRIL    TO    AUGUST,    1915 

shell  burst  in  almost  the  identical  spot.  That 
it  had  found  a  living  target  there  could  be  no 
doubt,  for  suddenly  the  field  was  dotted  with 
the  blue  coats  scampering  in  all  directions  for 
the  friendly  shelter  of  the  wood  in  their  rear. 
It;  was  an  object  lesson  of  the  difference  in 
effectiveness  between  high  explosive  and  shrap- 
nel. The  Captain  laughed  gleefully  at  his 
success  as  he  watched  the  effect  of  his  practice. 
Nearly  all  the  Austrians  were  running,  but 
away  to  the  right  was  a  group  of  five,  old 
timers  perhaps  who  decHned  to  run,  and  they 
strolled  leisurely  away  in  the  manner  of  veterans 
who  scorn  to  hurry.  The  Commander  again 
held  out  his  fist,  made  a  quick  estimate  of  the 
range  and  called  a  deviation  of  target  and 
a  slight  elevation  of  the  gun.  Again  the  gun 
crashed  behind  us  and  I  saw  the  shell  fall 
squarely  in  the  centre  of  the  group.  From  the 
smoking  crater  three  figures  darted  at  full  speed. 
I  saw  nothing  of  the  other  two.  No  doubt  their 
fragments  lay  quivering  in  the  heap  of  earth 
and  dust  from  which  the  fumes  poured  for  fully 
a  minute.  It  was  excellent  practice,  and  when 
I  congratulated  the  officer  he  smiled  and  clicked 
his  heels  as  pleased  as  a  child.  We  saw  nothing 
more  of  the  enemy  while  we  remained.  No 
doubt  they  were  waiting  for  the  night  to  come 
to  resume  their  digging  operations. 
—  283  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

How  long  the  Russians  will  remain  on  this 
line  can  be  merely  speculation.  Many  of  these  lines 
that  are  taken  up  temporarily  prove  unusually 
strong,  or  the  enemy  proves  unexpectedly  weak, 
and  what  was  intended  as  only  a  halt,  gradually 
becomes  strengthened  until  it  may  become  the 
final  line.  My  own  idea  was,  however,  that  after 
forcing  the  Austrians  to  develop  their  full 
strength  and  suffer  the  same  heavy  losses,  the 
Russians  would  again  retire  to  a  similar  posi- 
tion and  do  it  all  over  again.  It  is  this  type 
of  action  which  is  slowly  breaking  the  hearts 
of  the  enemy.  Again  and  again  they  are  forced 
into  these  actions  which  make  them  develop 
their  full  strength  and  are  taken  only  when 
supported  by  their  heavy  guns,  only  to  find, 
when  it  is  all  over,  that  the  Russians  have  de- 
parted and  are  already  complacently  awaiting 
them  a  few  days'  marches  further  on.  This 
kind  of  game  has  already  told  heavily  on  the  Aus- 
trian spirits.  How  much  longer  they  can  keep 
it  up  one  can  only  guess.  I  don't  think  they 
can  do  it  much  longer,  as  not  one  of  these  ad- 
vances is  now  yielding  them  any  strategic  bene- 
fit, and  the  asset  of  a  talking  point  to  be  given 
out  by  the  German  Press  Bureau  probably  does 
not  impress  them  as  a  sufficiently  good  reason 
to  keep  taking  these  losses  and  making  these 
sacrifices. 

—  284  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

Leaving  the  position  we  returned  to  our  base, 
where  we  spent  the  night  preparatory  to  mov- 
ing on  the  next  day  to  the  army  that  Ues  next 
in  the  Hne  north  of  us,  being  the  third  from  the 
extreme  Russian  left.  My  impressions  of  the 
condition  and  spirit  of  the  army  visited  this  day 
were  very  satisfactory,  and  I  felt  as  I  did  about 
its  southern  neighbour — that  its  movements  for 
the  moment  have  not  a  vast  importance.  It 
may  go  back  now,  but  when  the  conditions 
which  are  necessary  are  fulfilled  it  can  almost 
certainly  advance.  Probably  we  need  expect 
nothing  important  for  some  months  here  and 
further  retirements  may  be  viewed  with  equani- 
mity by  the  Allies.  Not  too  far  away  there 
is  a  final  line  which  they  will  not  leave  with- 
out a  definite  stand  and  from  which  I  question 
if  they  can  be  driven  at  all. 


—  285 


A  VISIT  TO  AN  HISTORIC  ARMY 


CHAPTER  XXI 

A    VISIT    TO    AN    HISTORIC    ARMY 

Brody,  Galicia, 

July  7,  1915. 

FOR  the  next  three  days  I  was  with  the  head- 
quarters and  army  of  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  fighting  organizations  that  this  war 
has  produced  on  any  Front.  I  am  not  supposed 
to  mention  its  number,  but  I  dare  say  the  censor 
will  let  me  say  that  it  is  that  one  which  has  been 
commanded  for  nearly  a  year  now  by  General 
Brussilov.  This  army,  as  the  reader  who  has 
followed  the  war  with  any  closeness  will  remem- 
ber, is  the  one  that  entered  Galicia  from  the  ex- 
treme east  in  the  first  week  of  the  war,  and 
that  in  thirty  days  of  continuous  fighting,  with 
practically  no  rail  transport,  turned  the  Aus- 
trian right  and  forced  the  evacuation  of  Lwow  at 
the  end  of  August.  In  spite  of  their  losses  and 
exhaustion  this  army  marched  right  on  the 
re-inforced  Austrian  centre  and  engaged  that 
force  with  such  ferocity,  that  when  the  posi- 
tion of  Rawa  Ruska  fell  the  Grodek  Hne  col- 
lapsed before  its  attacks.  Still  unexhausted 
—  289  —  u 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

and  with  practically  no  rest,  the  same  troops, 
or  what  was  left  of  them,  plus  reinforcements, 
moved  on  Przemysl,  and  by  their  fierce  assaults 
laid  the  foundation  for  what  subsequently  be- 
came the  siege  of  the  Austrian  stronghold.  But 
Brussilov  was  no  man  to  cool  his  heels  on  siege 
operations,  and  when  the  investment  was  com- 
pleted, his  corps  swept  on  past,  and  began  driv- 
ing the  Austrians  back  toward  the  Carpathians. 
As  the  New  Year  came,  and  the  weeks  passed 
by,  the  whole  world  watched  his  devoted  troops 
forcing  back  the  Austrians  and  their  newly 
arrived  German  supports  back  into  the  passes 
which  had  been  considered  all  but  impregnable. 
He  was  well  through  the  Dukla  and  making 
headway  slowly  but  surely  when  the  great  Ger- 
man blow  fell  on  the  Dunajec.  Leaving  his  suc- 
cessful operations  in  the  Carpathians,  he  fell 
back  rapidly  in  time  to  connect  with  the  retreat- 
ing army  of  the  Dunajec  and  temporarily  brace 
it  up  for  its  temporary  stand  on  the  San.  The 
defence  of  Przemysl  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  General, 
but  as  he  himself  said  to  me,  "  There  was  nothing 
but  a  heap  of  ruins  where  had  been  forts.  How 
could  we  defend  it  ?  ''  Still,  they  did  defend 
it  for  as  many  days  as  it  took  the  enemy  to  force 
the  centre,  which  had  not  sufficient  forces  to 
stem  the  advancing  tide  that  was  still  concen- 
trated against  them.     Even  then,  as  I  am  assured 

—  290  — 


o 
o 


n 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

by  a  Staff  officer,  they  hung  on  until  their  right 
flank  division  was  uncovered  and  menaced  with 
envelopment,  when  once  more  they  were  obliged 
to  withdraw  in  the  direction  of  the  city  of  Lwow. 

In  this  retreat  there  is  no  denying  that  the 
devoted  army  was  hammered  heavily,  and  prob- 
ably its  right  flank  was  somewhat  tumbled  up 
in  the  confusion.  Nevertheless,  it  was  still  full 
of  fight  when  the  Grodek  line  was  reached.  By 
this  time,  however,  the  greater  strategy  had  de- 
cided on  retiring  entirely  from  Galicia,  or  very 
nearly  so,  to  a  point  which  had  already  been 
selected ;  and  the  battle  on  the  Grodek  line  was 
a  check  rather  than  a  final  stand,  though  there  is 
no  question  that  the  Russians  would  have  stopped 
had  the  rest  of  their  line  been  able  to  hold  its 
positions.  But  the  shattered  army  of  the  Duna- 
jec,  in  spite  of  reinforcements,  was  too  badly 
shaken  up,  and  short  of  everything,  to  make 
feasible  any  permanent  new  alignment  of  the 
position.  The  action  around  Lwow  was  not  a 
serious  one,  though  it  was  a  hard  fought  and  costly 
battle.  It  was  made  with  no  expectation  of 
saving  the  town,  but  only  to  delay  the  Germans 
while  other  parts  of  the  line  were  executing 
what  the  Russians  call  ''  their  manoeuvres.'' 

From  Lwow  to  the  position  where  I  found 
the  army,  was  a  rearguard  action  and  nothing 
more,  and  apparently  not  a  very  serious  one  at 
—  291  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

that.  The  best  authorities  have  told  me  that 
the  Russians  withdrew  from  Lwow  city  in  a  per- 
fectly orderly  manner,  and  that  there  was  neither 
excitement  nor  confusion,  a  state  of  affairs  in 
great  contrast  to  that  which  existed  when  the 
Austrians  left  in  September.  The  Austrian  staff 
took  wing  in  such  hot  haste  that  the  General's 
maps,  with  pencils,  magnifying  glasses  and  notes 
were  found  lying  on  the  table  just  as  he  had 
left  them  when  he  hurried  from  the  room.  The 
Russians  may  also  have  panic  on  occasions,  but 
if  they  have  I  certainly  have  never  seen  any 
indication  of  it  in  any  of  the  operations  that 
I  have  witnessed. 

The  new  line  occupied  runs  from  approxi- 
mately the  head  of  the  Zota  Lipa  along'  the 
Bug  in  the  direction  of  Krasne,  where  the  Aus- 
trians hold  the  village  and  the  Russians  the  rail- 
road station,  and  thence  in  the  general  direction 
of  Kamioka  and  slightly  west  of  Sokal  where 
the  army  which  lies  between  it  and  the  former 
army  of  the  Dunajec  begins.  In  going  over 
this  terrain,  I  was  of  the  opinion  that  this  line 
was  not  designed  originally  as  the  permanent 
stand  ;  but  the  removal  of  German  troops  from 
this  Front  has  sufficiently  weakened  the  Aus- 
trians, so  it  is  quite  possible  that  it  may  become 
the  low  water  mark  of  the  retreat.  However, 
it  is  of  very  little  importance,  in  my  opinion, 
—  292  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

whether  the  army  holds  on  here,  or  continues 
to  retreat  for  another  60  or  80  versts,  where 
prepared  positions  at  many  points  give  excellent 
defensive  opportunities.  This  army  as  I  found 
it  is  in  good  shape.  It  is  true  that  many 
of  its  corps  have  been  depleted  but  these  are 
rapidly  filling  up  again.  There  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve, however,  that  this  army  is  no  longer  the 
objective  of  the  enemy,  and  that  for  the  present 
at  least  it  will  not  be  the  object  of  any  serious 
attack.  Behind  it  for  many  versts  there  is 
nothing  of  sufficient  strategic  importance  the 
capture  of  which  would  justify  the  enemy  in 
the  expenditure  which  will  be  necessary  to  dis- 
lodge it. 

I  met  General  Brussilov  several  times  and  dined 
with  him  the  first  evening  after  spending  almost 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  with  him  looking  at 
the  maps  of  the  position.  I  think  it  would  be 
impossible  for  anyone  to  be  a  pessimist  after 
an  hour  with  this  officer.  He  is  a  thin-faced 
handsome  man  of  about  fifty-five ;  in  every 
respect  the  typical  hard-fighting  cavalry  officer. 
He  is  just  the  man  one  would  expect  to  find 
in  command  of  an  army  with  the  record  that 
his  has  made.  I  asked  him  if  he  was  tired  after 
his  year  of  warfare.  He  laughed  derisively. 
"  Tired  !  I  should  say  not.  It  is  my  profession. 
I  shall  never  be  tired.''  I  cannot  of  course 
—  293  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

quote  him  on  any  military  utterances,  but  I  left 
him  with  the  certainty  that  he  at  least  was 
neither  depressed  nor  discouraged.  That  he  was 
disappointed  at  having  to  retire  is  certainly 
true  ;  but  it  is  with  him  as  I  have  found  it  with 
many  others — this  set-back  has  made  them  only 
the  more  ardent  for  conditions  to  be  such  that 
they  can  have  another  try  at  it  and  begin  all 
over  again.  All  these  ranking  officers  have  un- 
limited faith  in  the  staying  qualities  of  their 
men,  and  little  faith  in  what  the  Austrians  will 
do  when  the  Germans  go  away.  If  moral,  as 
Napoleon  says,  is  three  times  the  value  of  physi- 
cal assets  we  need  have  no  fear  as  to  the  future 
where  Brussilov  is  in  command  of  an  army. 

The  General  at  once  agreed  to  let  me 
visit  some  observation  point  where  I  could 
have  a  glimpse  of  his  positions  and  the  general 
nature  of  the  terrain.  On  his  large  scale  map 
we  found  a  point  that  towered  more  than  200 
metres  above  the  surrounding  country,  and  he 
advised  me  to  go  there.  So  on  the  following 
day  we  motored  to  a  certain  army  head-quarters, 
where  the  General  in  command  gave  us  one  of 
his  staff,  who  spoke  English,  and  an  extra  motor, 
and  sent  us  on  our  way  to  a  division  then  hold- 
ing one  of  the  front  line  trenches.  Here  by  a  cir- 
cuitous route,  to  avoid  shell  fire,  we  proceeded  to 
the  observation  point  in  question.  It  was  one 
—  294  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

of  the  most  beautifully  arranged  that  I  have  ever 
visited,  with  approaches  cut  in  through  the  back, 
and  into  trenches  and  bomb-proofs  on  the  outside 
of  the  hill  where  were  erected  the  hyperscopes 
for  the  artillery  officers  to  study  the  terrain. 

I  could  clearly  see  the  back  of  our  own 
trenches  with  the  soldiers  moving  about  in  them. 
In  the  near  foreground  almost  at  our  feet  was  one 
of  our  own  batteries  carefully  tucked  away  in  a 
little  dip  in  the  ground,  and  beautifully  masked 
from  the  observing  eye  of  the  aeroplanist.  To 
the  south  lay  the  line  of  the  Austrian  trenches, 
and  behind  that  a  bit  of  wood  in  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  General  who  accompanied  us, 
the  Austrians  had  a  light  battery  hidden  away. 
Still  further  off  behind  some  buildings  was  the 
position  of  the  Austrian  big  guns,  and  the  artil- 
lery officer  in  command  of  the  brigade,  whose 
observation  point  was  here,  told  me  that  there 
were  two  12-inch  guns  at  this  point,  though  they 
had  not  yet  come  into  action. 

Directly  east  of  us  lay  the  valley  of  the  Bug, 
as  flat  as  a  board,  with  the  whole  floor  covered 
with  areas  of  growing  crops,  some  more  ad- 
vanced in  ripeness  than  others,  giving  the  ap- 
pearance from  our  elevation  of  a  gigantic  chess- 
board. Away  off  to  the  west  some  big  guns 
were  firing  occasionally,  the  sound  of  their  re- 
ports and  the  bursting  shells  drifting  back  lazily 
—  295  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

to  us.  At  one  point  on  the  horizon  a  village 
was  burning,  great  clouds  of  dense  smoke  roll- 
ing up  against  the  skyline.  Otherwise  the 
afternoon  sunshine  beat  down  on  a  valley 
that  looked  like  a  veritable  farmer's  paradise, 
steeped  in  serenity  and  peace.  For  an  hour 
we  remained  in  this  lovely  spot,  studying  every 
detail  of  the  landscape,  and  wondering  when 
if  ever  it  would  be  turned  into  a  small  hell  of 
fury  by  the  troops  that  now  lay  hidden  under 
our  very  eyes.  We  left  shortly  before  six  and 
motored  back  in  the  setting  sunlight  to  our 
head-quarters.  Early  the  next  morning  I  again 
went  to  see  General  Brussilov  and  almost  the 
first  thing  he  told  me  was  that  there  had  been 
a  stiff  fight  the  night  before.  The  reader  may 
imagine  my  disappointment  to  learn  that  with- 
in two  hours  of  my  departure  the  Austrians 
had  launched  an  attack  on  the  very  chess- 
board that  I  had  been  admiring  so  much  dur- 
ing the  afternoon  in  the  observation  station. 
From  this  point,  in  comparative  safety,  I  could 
have  watched  the  whole  enterprise  from  start 
to  finish  with  the  maximum  of  clearness  and  the 
minimum  of  risk.  I  have  never  seen  a  more 
ideal  spot  from  which  to  see  a  fight,  and  prob- 
ably will  never  again  have  such  an  opportunity 
as  the  one  I  missed  last  night. 

I  heard  here,  as  I  have  been  hearing  now  for 
—  296  — 


APRIL   to   AUGUST,    191^ 

a  week,  that  there  was  a  tendency  for  the  Ger- 
mans to  disappear  from  this  Front,  and  it  was  be- 
lieved that  all  the  troops  that  could  be  safely 
withdrawn  were  being  sent  in  the  direction  of 
Cholm-Lublin,  where  it  was  generally  supposed 
the  next  German  drive  against  the  Russians 
would  take  place.  At  the  moment  this  point 
on  the  Russian  Front  represented  the  serious 
sector  of  their  line,  and  so  we  determined  not 
to  waste  more  time  here  but  to  head  directly 
for  Cholm  and  from  there  proceed  to  the 
army  defending  that  position,  the  reformed 
army  of  the  Dunajec.  Leaving  that  afternoon 
we  motored  back  into  Russia,  where  the  roads 
are  good,  and  headed  for  Cholm.  On  the  way 
up  I  called  at  the  head-quarters  of  the  army 
lying  between  Brussilov  and  the  army  of  the 
Dunajec  (as  I  shall  still  call  it  for  identifica- 
tion), where  I  lunched  with  the  General  in  com- 
mand and  talked  with  him  about  the  situation. 
He  freely  offered  me  every  facility  to  visit  his 
lines,  but  as  they  were  far  distant  and  the  only 
communications  were  over  execrable  roads  which 
were  practically  impossible  for  a  motor,  and  as 
his  Front  was  not  then  active,  it  did  not  seem 
worth  while  to  linger  when  there  was  prospect 
of  a  more  serious  Front  just  beyond.  As  I  am 
now  approaching  the  zone  which  promises  to 
be  of  interest  in  the  near  future,  it  is  necessary 

—  297  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

for  me  to  speak  of  positions  and  armies  with 
some  ambiguity  if  I  am  to  remain  in  the  good 
graces  of  the  censor.  Suffice  to  say  that  the  army  I 
skipped  holds  a  Hne  running  from  the  general 
direction  of  Sokal,  along  the  Bug  to  the  vicinity  of 
Grubeschow,  where  it  bends  to  the  west,  hitting 
into  a  rough  and  rolling  country,  with  its  flank 
near  a  certain  point  not  too  far  south-east  of  Cholm. 

I  cannot  speak  authoritatively  of  this  army 
as  I  did  not  visit  the  positions,  though  I  know 
of  them  from  the  maps.  I  believe  from  the 
organizations  attached  to  it,  some  of  which  I 
know  of  from  past  performances,  that  this  army 
is  perfectly  capable  of  holding  its  own  position 
as  it  now  stands,  providing  strategy  in  which  it 
is  not  personally  involved  does  not  necessitate  its 
shifting  front.  If  its  neighbour  on  the  west  should 
be  able  to  advance,  I  dare  say  that  this  army 
also  might  make  some  sort  of  a  move  forward. 

It  is  futile  at  this  time  to  make  any  further 
speculation.  Even  at  best  my  judgments  in 
view  of  the  length  of  front  and  shortness  of  time 
at  my  disposal  must  be  made  on  extremely 
hurried  and  somewhat  superficial  observation. 
It  may  be  better,  however,  to  get  a  somewhat 
vague  idea  of  the  whole  front  than  to  get  exact 
and  accurate  information  from  one  army,  which 
in  the  final  analysis  may  prove  to  be  an  inactive 
one  in  which  no  one  is  interested. 
—  298  — 


THE  NEW  ARMY  OF  THE  FORMER 
DUNAJEC  LINE 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE    NEW   ARMY    OF    THE    FORMER 
DUNAJEC    LINE 

Cholm, 

July  II,  1915. 

EVER  since  I  started  up  the  line  of  armies 
from  the  Bukovina,  I  have  been  appre- 
hensive about  the  point  in  the  hne  held  by  this 
army  which  suffered  so  badly  on  its  old  position 
when  it  was  the  object  and  centre  of  the  great 
German  drive  in  Galicia.  The  position  which 
it  occupies  from  a  point  perhaps  forty  odd  versts 
south-east  of  Cholm,  through  a  point  somewhat 
south  of  Krasnystav  to  the  general  direction  of 
Bychawa,  is  at  present  the  most  serious  point 
of  German  advance.  It  is  clear  that  the  cap- 
ture of  Lublin  with  its  number  of  railroads  cen- 
tring there,  would  paralyse  the  position  of  the 
whole  line.  As  I  have  said  before,  this  stroke 
doubtless  represents  the  one  that  the  enemy 
most  gladly  would  accomplish  in  their  whole 
Galician  movement,  for  the  pressing  of  the 
Russians  back  here  would  probably  spell  the 
evacuation  of  Warsaw,  an  object  for  which  the 
—  301  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

Germans    have    spent    so    many     hundreds     of 
thousands  of  Hves,  so  far  to  no  purpose. 

As  I  have  crossed  a  number  of  the  recupera- 
ting fragments  of  the  old  Dunajec  army  in  quar- 
ters where  they  were  having  comparatively  an 
easy  time,  I  was  curious  to  see  how  the  new  one 
was  composed.  I  was  received  kindly  by  the 
General  in  command,  and  soon  realized  that  his 
army,  save  in  number,  was  practically  an  en- 
tirely new  organization  built  up  from  corps 
that  have  been  taken  from  all  quarters  of  the 
Russian  Front  for  this  purpose.  The  General 
himself  is  new  to  the  command,  and  so  one  may 
regard  this  organization  quite  apart  from  the 
history  of  the  one  that  bore  the  burden  of  the 
great  Galician  drive  in  May.  As  soon  as  I  saw 
the  corps  here,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  at  once 
that  the  Russians  had  reached  a  point  where 
they  intended  to  make  a  serious  fight.  I  at 
once  recognized  four  corps  which  I  have  known 
in  other  quarters  of  the  war,  and  wherever  they 
have  been  they  have  made  a  reputation  for 
themselves.  The  sight  of  these  magnificent 
troops  pouring  in  made  one  feel  that  whether 
the  battle,  which  every  one  seems  to  think  is 
impending,  should  be  won  or  lost,  it  would 
be  an  action  of  the  most  important  nature. 
The  new  General  impressed  me  as  much  as 
any  soldier  I  have  seen  in  Russia.  Hereto- 
—  302  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

fore  he  has  been  in  command  of  a  corps  which 
is  said  to  be  one  of  the  finest  in  the  whole 
Russian  Army.  I  had  never  seen  him  until  this 
visit,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  I  had  never  even 
heard  of  his  name.  When  he  came  into  the 
room  with  his  old  uniform  blouse  open  he  was 
a  picture  of  a  rough-and-ready  soldier.  Steel 
blue  eyes  under  heavy  grey  brows  and  a  great 
white  moustache  gave  an  impression  of  de- 
termination, relieved  by  the  gentleness  that 
flickered  in  the  blue  of  his  eyes  as  well  as  the 
suggestion  of  sensitiveness  about  the  corners 
of  his  firm  mouth.  From  the  first  sentence  he 
spoke,  I  realized  that  he  meant  business,  and 
that  this  army,  when  the  time  came  and 
whatever  the  results  might  be,  would  put  up  a 
historic  fight. 

At  his  invitation  I  went  with  him  later  in 
the  afternoon  to  look  at  some  new  guns  that 
had  just  come  in.  They  were  very  interesting 
and  encouraging,  but  cannot  be  discussed  at 
present.  With  them  had  come  new  artillery- 
men, and  the  general  went  about  addressing 
each  batch.  His  talk  was  something  like  this, 
freely  translated,  ''  Welcome  to  my  command, 
my  good  children.  You  are  looking  fit  and  well, 
and  I  am  glad  to  have  you  with  me.  Now  I  sup- 
pose that  you  think  you  have  come  here  to  help 
me  hold  back  the  Germans.  Well,  you  are  mis- 
—  303  — 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

taken.  We  are  not  here  to  hold  anybody,  but 
to  Hck  the  enemy  out  of  his  boots,  and  drive 
them  all  clean  out  of  Russia,  Poland  and  Galicia 
too,  and  you  look  to  me  like  the  men  that  could 
do  the  job.'*  The  Russian  soldiers  usually  cheer 
to  order,  but  these  soldiers  responded  with  a 
roar,  and  when  dismissed  ran  off  to  their  posi- 
tions cheering  as  long  as  they  could  be  seen. 

That  night  I  dined  with  the  General.  In  the 
midst  of  dinner  some  reinforcements  passed  up 
the  street  weary  and  footsore  from  a  long  day 
on  the  road,  The  General,  dragging  his  staff 
with  him,  went  out  into  the  street,  and  stood, 
napkin  in  hand,  watching  each  company  as  it 
passed  him  and  calling  to  each  a  word  of  greeting. 
As  the  men  passed  one  could  see  that  each  was 
sizing  up  the  chief  in  whose  hands  rested  their 
lives,  and  the  future  of  their  army ;  one  could 
read  their  thoughts  plainly  enough.  "  Here  is 
a  man  to  trust.  He  will  pull  us  through  or  die 
in  the  attempt." 

After  dinner  I  went  for  a  stroll  with  him, 
and  he  did  not  pass  a  soldier  without  stopping 
to  speak  for  a  moment.  Late  in  the  evening 
I  saw  him  walking  down  the  main  street  of 
the  primitive  little  town  stick  in  hand,  and 
at  every  corner  he  stopped  to  talk  with  his 
men.  I  have  never  seen  an  army  where  the 
relations  between  officers  and  men  were  as  they 
—  304  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

are  in  Russia,  and  even  in  Russia  not  such  as 
between  this  man  and  his  own  soldiers.  Al- 
ready he  has  lost  his  own  son  in  the  war,  yet 
has  accepted  his  loss  with  a  stoicism  that  re- 
minds one  a  httle  of  General  Nogi  under  similar 
circumstances.  This  then  is  the  man  to  whom 
Russia  has  entrusted  what  for  the  moment  ap- 
pears  as   her   most   important   front. 

The  General  permitted  Prince  Mischersky  to 
accompany  me  during  my  visit  to  the  posi- 
tions on  the  following  day.  The  Prince  who  is 
the  personal  aide-de-camp  of  the  Emperor,  and 
a  charming  man,  took  me  in  his  own  motor, 
and  early  we  arrived  at  the  head- quarters  of  a 
certain  army  corps.  From  here  we  drove  to 
the  town  of  Krasnystav  where  was  the  General 
of  a  lesser  command.  This  point,  though  14 
versts  from  the  German  gun  positions,  was 
under  fire  from  heavy  artillery,  and  two  8-inch 
shells  fell  in  the  town  as  we  entered,  spout- 
ing bricks  and  mortar  in  every  direction 
while  great  columns  of  black  smoke  poured 
from  the  houses  that  had  been  struck.  While 
we  were  talking  with  the  General  in  his  rooms, 
another  shell  fell  outside  with  a  heavy  detona- 
tion. From  here  we  visited  the  division  of 
another  corps,  where  we  borrowed  horses  and 
rode  up  to  their  reserve  trenches  and  had  a  look 
at  the  troops,  some  of  the  most  famous  in  Russia, 

—  305  —  X 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

whose  name  is  well  known  wherever  the  readers 
have  followed  the  fortunes  of  the  war.  We  were 
perhaps  600  or  800  yards  from  the  front  line, 
and  while  we  chatted  with  the  grizzled  old  com- 
mander of  a  certain  regiment,  the  enemy  began 
a  spasm  of  firing  on  the  front  line  trench  ahead 
of  us,  eleven  shells  bursting  in  a  few  minutes. 
Then  they  suspended  entirely  and  once  again 
quiet  reigned  through  the  woodland  in  which 
our  reserves  were. 

From  here  by  a  narrow  path  we  struck  off 
to  the  west  and  worked  our  way  up  into  one  of 
the  new  front  line  trenches  which  are  laid  out 
on  an  entirely  new  plan,  and  have  been  in  course 
of  preparation  ever  since  the  days  of  the  fighting 
on  the  San.  They  are  the  best  trenches  I  have 
ever  seen,  and  are  considerably  better  in  my 
opinion  than  those  on  the  Blonie  line  in  front 
of  Warsaw  which,  before  this,  were  the  best  that 
had  ever  come  under  my  observation.  Many 
things  that  I  saw  during  this  day  led  me  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  Russians  were  doing  every- 
thing in  their  power  to  prevent  a  repetition  of 
the  drive  on  the  Dunajec,  The  German  line  of 
communications  here,  as  I  am  informed,  runs  via 
Rawa  Ruska,  and  owing  to  the  difficulties  of  the 
terrain  between  where  they  now  stand  and  the 
Gahcian  frontier,  it  will  be  very  difficult  for  them 
to  retire  directly  south.  Success  in  an  action  here, 
—  306  — 


Russian  artillery  officers  in  an  observation  position  during  the  fighting 

round  Lublin. 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

then,  is  of  great  importance  to  them.  If  they  at- 
tack and  fail  to  advance,  they  must  count  on  the 
instant  depression  of  the  whole  Austrian  Hne, 
for  the  Austrians  even  when  successful  have 
not  been  greatly  enthusiastic.  If  they  are  driven 
back,  they  must  retire  in  the  direction  of  Rawa 
Ruska,  across  the  face  of  the  army  standing 
to  the  east ;  they  must  strike  west  through 
Poland,  crossing  the  front  of  the  army  lying 
beside  the  Vistula  ;  or  they  must  try  to  negotiate 
the  bad  roads  south  of  them,  which  present  no 
simple  problem.  If  the  Russian  centre  can 
give  them  a  good  decisive  blow  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  both  flanking  armies  can 
participate  pretty  vigorously  in  an  offensive. 
No  one  attaches  much  importance  to  the  Aus- 
trians if  the  Germans  can  be  beaten.  As  long 
as  they  continue  successful,  the  Austrians,  how- 
ever, are  an  important  and  dangerous  part  of 
the  Russian  problem. 


307  — 


BACK  TO  THE  WARSAW  FRONT 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

BACK    TO    THE    WARSAW    FRONT 

Dated : 
Warsaw, 

July  24,  1915. 

LEAVING  Lublin  early  in  the  morning  we 
motored  to  that  certain  place  where  the  army 
next  in  line  to  the  one  I  have  last  discussed  is 
stationed.  Since  I  have  been  away  there  have 
been  many  changes  and  much  shifting  about 
of  corps,  and  I  find  that  nearly  half  of  this  army 
is  now  east  of  the  Vistula,  and  its  left  joins  the 
right  of  the  one  we  have  just  left,  the  two 
together  forming  the  line  of  defence  on  Lublin. 
As  I  have  been  in  the  army  on  the  Vistula  two 
or  three  times  before,  I  find  many  friends  there, 
and  learn  from  them  of  the  successful  movement 
of  a  few  days  before  when  an  early  Austrian 
advance  taken  in  the  flank  resulted  in  a  loss  to 
the  enemy,  of  prisoners  alone,  of  297  officers 
and  a  number  reported  to  be  23,000  men,  prac- 
tically all  of  whom  are  said  to  be  Austrians. 
Here  as  elsewhere  great  confidence  is  expressed 
as  to  the  position  in  the  south.  We  are  even 
—  311  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

told  that  the  bulk  of  the  Germans  are  now  being 
shifted  to  another  point,  and  that  the  next  blow 
will  fall  directly  on  or  north  of  Warsaw. 

On  returning  to  Warsaw  I  found  that  during 
our  absence  there  had  been  a  grave  panic 
caused  by  the  advances  in  the  south,  and  that 
several  hundred  thousand  of  the  population  had 
already  left,  while  practically  all  the  better 
class  had  departed  a  week  ago.  The  hotels 
were  almost  deserted,  and  the  streets  emptier 
than  I  have  ever  seen  them.  But  friends  who 
are  unusually  well  informed  told  me  that  the 
danger  was  past,  and  the  general  impression 
was  that  the  worst  was  over  on  this  front.  For 
two  whole  days  we  had  a  period  practically  with- 
out rumours  or  alarms,  and  then  began  what 
now  looks  to  be  one  of  the  darkest  periods  that 
any  of  us  have  yet  seen  here,  not  even  except- 
ing the  panicky  days  of  October  last  when  the 
Germans  were  all  but  in  the  city  itself.  First 
came  rumours  of  heavy  fighting  to  the  north, 
around  Przasnys,  Lomza,  Ciechanow,  and  reports 
of  Russian  reverses  and  retirements  on  a  new 
line  of  defence,  and  forthwith  Warsaw  was  again 
thrown  into  a  state  of  excessive  nerves.  One 
becomes  so  accustomed  to  these  constant  alarms 
that  they  have  come  to  make  little  impression 
on  one.  The  next  day  a  friend  coming  in  from 
the  armies  engaged  announced  with  the  greatest 
—  312  — 


Retreat  from  Warsaw.     Burning  crops. 


The  retreat  from  Warsaw.    A  Jewish  family  leaving  Warsaw. 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

confidence  that  the  situation  was  better,  and 
that  the  new  Russian  Hne  was  in  every  way  better 
than  the  old  one  and  that  everything  was  going 
well.  Fighting  which  is  reported  to  be  serious 
is  going  on  to  the  south  of  us,  on  the  Lublin- 
Cholm  line,  but  is  not  causing  serious  anxiety 
here.  On  the  whole  nearly  all  the  usually  well- 
informed  persons  here  felt  moderately  easy  about 
the  situation. 

Suddenly  there  came  a  bolt  out  of  the  blue. 
With  no  warning  it  was  announced  that  the 
evacuation  of  Warsaw  had  been  ordered  and 
that  the  civil  authorities  would  leave  on  Sunday, 
July  i8.  This  announcement  was  not  made 
until  late  on  Saturday,  and  immediately  began 
the  tumult  of  reports  of  disaster  which  we  who 
have  sat  here  through  thick  and  thin  know  so 
well.  Personally  I  should  have  felt  no  anxiety, 
for  there  seemed  no  immediate  danger  on  any 
of  the  near-by  fronts,  nor  serious  reverses  as  far 
as  was  known  here  on  the  more  distant  fronts  ; 
but  the  order  of  evacuation  was  followed  up  at 
once  by  instructions  to  the  Consul  of  Great 
Britain  to  be  prepared  to  leave  on  Monday, 
while  I  believe  that  the  Belgian  and  French 
Consuls  received  similar  notices  and  are  all 
departing  on  that  day  (to-morrow,  July  19). 
The  American  Consul,  Hernando  Desote,  who 
already  has  the  German  and  Austrian  interests 
—  313  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

in  charge,  took  over  the  British  interests  at 
twelve  o*  clock  to-day,  and  will  probably  do  the 
same  for  the  interests  of  the  other  Allies  repre- 
sented here  in  Warsaw. 

In  the  meantime  we  hear  that  the  Russians 
are   falling   back   on   the   Blonie  line,    and   that 
Zuradov    has     already    been    evacuated,    which 
may  or  may  not  be  true.      It  now  seems  quite 
obvious  that  something  has  taken  place  of  which 
we  know  nothing,  and  I  have  not  seen  or  talked 
with  an  officer  who  thinks    that  what  is  taking 
place  is  due  to  the  local  military  situation  as 
far  as  it  is  known.     The  general  opinion  is  that 
if  the  Russians  retire  it  is  due  purely  to  the  fact 
that  they  have  not  the  munitions  to  maintain 
a  sustained  attack  of  the  Germans  who  seem  to 
be  coming  over  to  this  front  in  increasingly  large 
numbers.     For   the   observer   here    it   is  impos- 
sible to  know  what  the  Russians  have  in  their 
caissons.     One  who  gets  about  a  good  deal  can 
make  a  guess  at  the  positions,  strength  and  morale 
of  an  army,  but  the  matter  of  munitions  or  out- 
side policy  is  something  which  cannot  be  solved 
by  the  man  at  the  front.      There  is  undoubtedly 
a  feeling  of  great  discouragement  here  at  present, 
and  many  believe  that  the  Russians  have  been 
bearing    the    burden    now    ever    since    January, 
while  the  Allies  for  one  cause  or  another  have 
not  been  able  to  start  enough  of  an  attack  in 
—  314  — 


Retreat  from  Warsaw.  A  Polish  Jew.  Note  his  belonging! 
tied  round  a  cow's  neck. 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

the  west  to  prevent  the  Germans  from  sending 
more  and  ever  more  troops  over  here. 

Russia  certainly  has  neither  the  industrial  sys- 
tem nor  the  industrial  temperament  to  supply 
herself  with  what  she  needs  to  the  same  extent  as 
both  France  and  England.  She  has  been  fighting 
now  for  months,  with  ammunition  when  she  had 
it,  and  practically  without  it  when  it  failed  her. 
Month  after  month  she  has  kept  up  the  unequal 
struggle,  and  there  are  many  here  who  think 
the  greater  powers  that  be  are  going  to  with- 
draw to  a  shorter  line,  and  await  refilling  of  their 
caissons  until  the  time  comes  when  the  Allies 
can  co-operate  in  the  attack  on  the  common 
enemy.  These  matters  are  purely  speculation, 
however,  for  here  we  know  nothing  except  that 
the  civil  evacuation  is  going  on  apace,  and  that 
there  are  many  signs  which  indicate  that  it  may 
be  followed  by  the  military  within  a  week  or  ten 
days. 

The  Poles  are  utterly  discouraged,  the  Russians 
disgusted  and,  all  things  considered,  Warsaw 
at  the  present  writing  is  a  very  poor  place 
for  an  optimist.  We  hear  to-day  that  the  fire 
brigade  has  come  back  from  Zuradov,  where 
buildings  which  might  be  of  use  to  the  enemy 
are  said  to  have  been  blown  up.  Poles  have 
been  notified  that  the  Russian  Government 
would  give  them  free  transportation  from  here, 
—  315  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

and  14  roubles.  Factories  which  have  copper 
in  their  equipment  have  been  dismantled,  and 
many  are  already  in  process  of  being  loaded 
on  to  cars  for  shipment  to  Russia  proper.  I 
am  told  that  the  State  Bank  left  yesterday  for 
Moscow,  and  that  they  are  collecting  all  the 
brass  and  copper  utensils  from  the  building  next 
door  to  the  hotel.  My  chauffeur  has  just  come 
in  and  lugubriously  announced  that  benzine 
has  risen  to  15  roubles  a  pood  (I  do  not  know 
how  that  figures  out  in  English  equivalent  ex- 
cept that  it  is  prohibitory),  when  we  usually 
pay  three.  In  addition  the  soldiers  are  collect- 
ing all  private  stocks,  and  there  are  few  of  the 
privately  owned  cars  in  the  town  that  have  enough 
in  their  tanks  to  turn  a  wheel  with.  In  the 
meantime  another  man  informs  me  that  they 
are  tearing  down  copper  telephone  and  telegraph 
wires  to  points  outside  of  the  city,  and  that  our 
troops  are  already  falling  back  on  Warsaw.  All 
of  this  is  very  annoying  to  one  who  has  just 
finished  writing  an  optimistic  story  about  the 
situation  in  the  South. 

Something  like  this,  then,  is  the  situation  in 
Warsaw  on  Sunday  night,  July  18.  It  has 
never  been  worse  so  far  as  I  can  judge  from  my 
point  of  view,  but  I  am  of  the  opinion  that 
things  are  not  as  bad  as  they  look,  and  that  suc- 
cesses in  the  South  may  yet  relieve  the  tension. 

—  316  — 


THE  LOSS  OF  WARSAW 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE  LOSS   OF  WARSAW 

Dated : 
Petrograd, 
August  15,  1915. 

THE  giving  up  of  Warsaw  marks  the  end  of  a 
definite  period  in  the  war,  and  represents 
the  dimax  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  cam- 
paigns in  the  history  of  the  world.  Military  records 
do  not  present  anything  even  approaching  the 
effort  which  in  three  months  has  been  made  by 
the  enemy.  From  the  moment  they  began  their 
attack  on  the  Dunajec  line  in  early  May,  until 
their  entrance  into  Warsaw,  almost  exactly  three 
months  later,  their  campaign  has  represented  one 
continuous  attack.  Every  detail  seems  to  have 
been  arranged,  and  once  the  movement  started, 
men  and  munitions  were  fed  into  the  maw  of 
war  without  intermission  until  their  objective, 
Warsaw,  was  attained.  All  of  this  one  must  in 
justice  accord  the  Germans,  for  it  is  their  due. 
The  determination  and  bravery  of  their  soldiers 
in  these  three  months  of  ghastly  sacrifice  have 
never  faltered. 

—  319  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

Their  objective  has  been  attained;  but  when  we 
have  said  this,  our  admiration  for  a  purpose  ful- 
filled stops  short.  Though  obtaining  Warsaw  they 
have  not  secured  the  results  that  they  believed 
Warsaw  represented ;  and  I  believe  it  perfectly 
safe  to  say  that  the  capture  of  Warsaw,  without 
the  inflicting  of  a  crushing  blow  to  the  Russian 
Army,  was  perhaps  the  greatest  disappointment 
to  the  Germans  which  this  war  has  brought  them. 
I  know  from  conversations  with  many  prisoners, 
that  generally  speaking,  every  soldier  in  the 
German  Army  on  this  Front  felt  that  with  the 
capture  of  the  great  Polish  capital,  the  war 
with  Russia  was  practically  finished.  It  was 
because  this  was  so  earnestly  believed  that  it  was 
possible  to  keep  driving  the  soldiers  on  and  on, 
regardless  of  life  and  of  their  physical  exhaus- 
tion. 

The  German  plan  involved  the  destruction  of 
the  army.  They  have  the  husk  of  victory,  while 
the  kernel,  as  has  happened  many  times  before 
in  this  war,  has  slipped  from  their  grasp.  Every- 
thing that  has  happened  since  Warsaw  is  in  the 
nature  of  a  secondary  campaign,  and  really  repre- 
sents an  entirely  new  programme  and  probably 
a  new  objective  or  series  of  objectives.  From  the 
wider  point  of  view,  the  war  against  Russia  has 
begun  all  over  again,  and  for  the  present  it  seems 
unwise  to  discuss  or  prophesy  the  outcome  of 
—  320  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

the  vast  operations  which  have  taken  place  since 
August  5.  But  it  is  a  desperate  new  undertaking 
for  Germany  to  enter  upon  after  her  incomparable 
exertions  these  last  three  months. 

In  dealing  with  such  extended  operations  at 
this  time,  it  is  impossible  to  write  accurately, 
because  the  Front  has  been  so  great  that  nine- 
tenths  of  the  information  in  regard  to  details  is 
not  yet  available.  The  writer  was  for  the  period 
from  July  10  to  August  5  in  daily  contact  with 
this  Front,  and  in  that  period  motored  thousands 
of  versts,  was  in  practically  all  of  the  armies  in- 
volved in  what  may  be  called  the  Warsaw  move- 
ment, and  at  the  positions  in  innumerable  places. 
Yet  he  hesitates  to  attempt  to  write  anything  of 
an  authoritative  nature  for  the  moment,  although 
he  believes  the  rough  outline  which  follows  will 
prove  approximately  accurate  when  the  history 
of  the  movement  is  written  from  the  broader  per- 
spective which  time  only  can  bring. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  many  observers  early  in 
May,  including  the  writer,  that  Warsaw  was 
the  main  objective  of  the  great  Galician  drive. 
The  Germans  intended  first  to  strengthen  the 
moral  of  the  Austrians  by  returning  them  Galicia, 
but  probably  the  greatest  value  of  the  capture  of 
Galicia  was  the  position  which  left  the  Germans 
on  the  flank  of  Warsaw.  Since  last  Autumn  it 
has  been  clear  that  the  Germans  regarded  Warsaw 
—  321  —  Y 


THE    RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

as  the  most  important  strategic  prize  on  this 
Front,  and  those  who  have  followed  the  war  will 
recall  the  constant  series  of  attacks  on  the  Polish 
capital.  First  came  their  direct  advance  which 
frittered  away  the  middle  of  December,  and  left 
them  sticking  in  the  mud  and  snow  on  the  Bzura 
line  in  Poland,  still  50  versts  from  their  prize. 
Spasmodic  fighting  continued  until  January,  when 
their  great  Bolimov  drive  was  undertaken.  Be- 
ginning in  the  last  days  of  January  it  continued 
for  six  consecutive  days.  We  are  told  that  ten 
divisions  backed  by  600  guns  attacked  practically 
without  interruption  for  six  days  and  six  nights. 
I  cannot  accurately  state  what  the  German  losses 
were,  but  I  know  the  Russians  estimated  them  to 
be  100,000. 

It  was  clear  that  Warsaw  was  not  to  be  taken 
from  the  front,  and  as  the  last  gun  was  being 
fired  on  the  Bolimov  position,  the  new  Prussian 
flanking  movement  was  launched  in  East  Prussia. 
This,  though  scoring  heavily  in  its  early  days,  soon 
dissipated  as  the  Russians  adjusted  themselves 
to  the  shock.  That  was  followed  instantly  by 
another  series  of  operations  directed  against  War- 
saw from  the  North.  This  too  went  up  in  smoke, 
and  for  several  weeks  there  was  a  lull,  interrupted 
here  and  there  by  preliminary  punches  in  different 
parts  of  the  line,  intended  to  discover  weakness 
which  did  not  appear.  By  April  it  was  clear  that 
—  322  — 


During  the  retreat  from  Warsaw. 


B^^7 

m 

li 

Russian  armoured  motor-car. 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

Warsaw  was  not  vulnerable  from  the  front  or 
North.  Then  followed  the  great  Galician  campaign 
which  ended  with  the  fall  of  Lemberg,  and  by  the 
end  of  June  left  the  Germans  in  their  new  position 
with  the  southern  flank  of  the  armies  in  Poland 
prepared  for  their  final  drive  for  Warsaw  on  the 
South.  From  the  light  which  I  have  on  this 
campaign  I  will  try  and  give  the  sketch  as  it 
has  appeared  to  me. 

There  is  no  question  that  the  German  strategy 
aimed  not  merely  at  the  capture  of  Warsaw,  but 
at  the  destruction  or  capture  of  the  greater  part 
of  the  army  defending  the  Polish  capital.  The 
German  programme  was  carefully  prepared,  and 
this  time  they  had  no  isolated  movements,  but 
two  great  movements  developing  simultaneously ; 
one  aimed  to  cut  the  Warsaw-Petrograd  lines 
from  the  North,  and  the  other  aimed  at  Warsaw 
from  the  South.  The  time  which  has  elapsed  is 
not  sufficient,  nor  is  the  information  available, 
to  enable  one  to  judge  at  this  time  whether  the 
Northern  or  Southern  movement  was  the  main 
German  objective.  I  was  in  the  Cholm-Lublin 
Army  head-quarters  just  before  the  heavy  fighting 
began,  and  was  then  of  the  opinion  that  the  most 
important  German  activity  was  contemplated 
on  this  sector.  It  is  apparent  by  a  glance  at  the 
map,  that  an  overwhelming  success  here  would 
have  been  of  incredible  importance  to  the  enemy. 
—  323  — 


THE    RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

Had  they  been  able  to  destroy  this  army  as 
they  did  the  one  bearing  the  same  number 
on  the  Dunajec  in  May,  they  could  have  moved 
directly  on  Brest-Litowsk  by  Wlodava  and  cut 
the  Warsaw  line  of  communications  to  the  direct 
rear  i8o  versts  away.  A  rapid  success  here  would 
have  certainly  resulted  in  just  the  disaster  that 
the  Germans  were  hoping  would  be  the  outcome 
of  their  programme. 

The  movement  on  the  North  from  the  direction 
of  Mlawa  toward  Przasnys-Ciechanow  was  of 
course  a  direct  threat  on  the  Warsaw-Petrograd 
line  of  communications.  Success  here  would  have 
forced  the  evacuation  of  the  city  and  a  general 
change  of  the  Russian  line  ;  but  even  had  it  been 
a  sweeping  one,  it  had  not  the  potentialities  of  the 
calamity  which  a  similar  success  on  the  Cholm 
line  would  have  had.  Perhaps  the  Germans  esti- 
mated both  to  be  of  approximately  equal  import- 
ance, and  a  double  success,  occurring  simultane- 
ously, would  have  undoubtedly  repeated  the 
Moukden  fiasco  on  an  infinitely  larger  scale.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  when  this  movement 
started,  the  Russians  in  the  South  were  at  the 
end  of  a  gruelling  campaign  of  nearly  two  months' 
continuous  warfare,  in  which,  through  lack  of 
munitions,  they  were  obliged  to  withdraw  under 
difficult  and  extremely  dehcate  circumstances. 
The  army  defending  the  Cholm-Lublin  line  was  in 
—  324  — 


APRIL   TO    AUGUST,    1915 

name  the  same  that  had  been  so  very  badly  cut 
up  six  weeks  earher,  and  the  Germans  no  doubt 
beheved  that  every  one  of  the  Russian  Armies 
engaged  from  the  Bukowina  to  the  Vistula  had 
been  so  badly  shaken  up  that  any  effective  resist- 
ance would  be  impossible.  It  was  because  their 
estimate  was  so  far  out  that  their  programme 
was   doomed   to   disappointment. 

My  own  observation  of  the  Russian  Armies  is 
that  if  they  are  given  a  fortnight,  or  even  a  week, 
in  which  to  recuperate,  they  are  good  for  a  month 
of  continuous  fighting.  With  almost  any  other 
army  in  the  world,  after  such  an  experience  as  the 
Russians  had  had  for  six  weeks  in  Galicia,  the 
defence  on  the  Cholm-Lubhn  line  would  have 
failed,  and  the  Germans  might  well  have  driven 
through  to  Brest  in  two  or  three  weeks,  as  they 
no  doubt  firmly  believed  that  they  would.  But 
the  Russians  on  the  Cholm-Lublin  line  had  the 
benefit  of  interior  lines  of  communications,  and 
had  also  the  brief  breathing  space  which  enabled 
them  to  pull  themselves  together.  Besides  this,  a 
new  General,  General  Loesche,  was  in  command, 
and  with  him  were  an  important  number  of  the 
best  corps  in  the  Russian  Army.  Excellent  field 
works  had  been  prepared,  and  personally,  after 
visiting  the  positions  I  felt  sure  that  whatever 
the  outcome  of  the  German  move  against  him 
might  be,  it  would  not  result  in  anything  like  the 
—  325  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

Dunajec  enterprise,  nor  would  the  enemy  be  able 
to  drive  through  to  Brest  with  sufficient  rapidity 
to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  Warsaw  army  or  those 
lying  south  of  it.  The  movement  in  the  South 
started  with  such  terrific  impetus,  that  for  several 
days  it  seemed  possible  that  in  spite  of  the  stamina 
and  leadership  of  the  Russians  the  enemy  would 
have  their  way ;  but  after  ten  days  of  fighting 
it  became  clear  that  though  the  enemy  were  ad- 
vancing, their  progress  was  going  to  be  of  so  slow 
and  arduous  a  nature  that  they  would  never  be 
able  to  inflict  a  smashing  disaster  on  the  Russian 
Armies. 

The  details  of  the  battles  that  raged  here  for 
weeks  would  fill  a  volume.  Although  I  visited 
this  army  several  times  during  this  stage,  and  was 
in  four  different  corps  on  this  Front,  I  have  still 
but  the  vaguest  outline  in  my  own  mind  of  the 
fighting  except  as  a  whole.  Every  day  there  was 
something  raging  on  some  part  of  the  line,  first 
in  one  place  and  then  in  another.  The  Germans 
used  the  same  practice  that  was  so  successful  in 
Gahcia  and  massed  their  batteries  heavily.  This 
method,  backed  by  the  Prussian  Guards,  enabled 
them  to  take  Krasnystav.  The  best  trenches  that 
I  have  ever  seen  in  field  operations  were  washed 
away  in  a  day  by  a  torrent  of  big  shells.  The 
Russians  did  not  retreat.  They  remained  and 
died,  and  the  Germans  simply  marched  through 
—  326  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

the  hole  in  the  line,  making  a  change  of   front 
necessary. 

But  this  time  there  was  no  disorganization  of 
the  line  as  a  whole.  The  moment  the  Germans 
were  beyond  their  supporting  artillery,  the  Russian 
infantry  were  at  their  throats  with  the  bayonet 
and  drove  them  back.  The  fighting  from  day  to 
day  for  weeks  was  a  great  zig-zag,  with  German 
advances  and  retreats  before  Russian  counter- 
attacks. But  each  advance  left  the  enemy  a 
little  nearer  their  objective,  and  it  was  clear  that 
slowly  but  surely  they  were,  by  superior  forces, 
vastly  superior  supplies  of  ammunition  and  a 
constant  flow  of  reserves,  forcing  the  Russians 
back  toward  the  Lublin-Cholm-Kovel  line  of 
railroad.  It  became  equally  obvious  however 
after  ten  days  that  they  would  never  reach  Brest 
in  time  to  menace  seriously  the  future  of  the 
Warsaw  army,  even  if  they  could  and  would  spare 
the  men  to  turn  the  trick. 

As  a  fact  it  became  apparent  here  for  almost 
the  first  time,  that  the  Germans  in  spite  of  their 
anxiety  to  attain  their  objective,  were  endeavour- 
ing to  spare  their  troops.  For  the  first  time  I 
heard  the  general  comment  among  officers,  that 
the  artillery  was  now  the  main  arm  in  modern 
warfare,  and  the  infantry  its  support.  I  think 
this  potential  failure  of  their  programme  dawned 
on  the  Germans  even  before  it  did  on  the  Russians  ; 
—  327  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

for  while  all  eyes  were  still  on  the  Southern  Front, 
the  Germans  were  reinforcing  and  pushing  their 
Northern  attack  which  aimed  to  hit  through 
Pultusk  and  Wyszkow  to  the  Petrograd- Warsaw 
line  at  Lochow.  Perhaps  after  the  first  two  weeks 
in  the  South  this  really  was  their  greatest  aim. 
Personally  I  think  their  chance  for  inflicting  a 
disaster  slipped  when  they  failed  to  defeat  defin- 
itely, or  destroy  the  army  of  Loesche.  To  him 
and  to  the  left  flanking  corps  of  Evert,  must  be 
accorded  the  credit  of  saving  this  sector  with  all 
its  menaces  to  the  future  of  the  campaign  and 
perhaps  the  whole  European  situation.  For  the 
last  two  weeks  before  the  abandonment  of  Warsaw, 
these  two  great  battles,  one  in  the  North  and  one 
in   the   South,   were   raging  simultaneously. 

I  left  Cholm  for  the  last  time  on  July  22,  feeling 
that  the  fate  of  Warsaw  would  not  be  decided 
from  that  quarter,  and,  for  the  balance  of  the 
campaign,  divided  my  time  between  the  South 
Vistula  armies  and  those  defending  the  Narew  line. 
It  now  became  clear  that  the  great  menace  lay 
from  the  Northern  blow,  and  here  we  have  a 
very  similar  story  to  that  of  the  Southern  army. 
With  terrific  drives  the  enemy  took  Przasnys, 
Ciechanow,  Makow  and  at  last  Pultusk,  and  finally 
succeeded  in  getting  across  the  Narew  with  ten 
divisions  of  excellent  troops.  On  this  Front,  to 
the  best  of  my  judgment,  the  Germans  at  this  time 
—  328  — 


2 

C 
o 

u 


APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

had  131  battalions  of  their  very  best  available 
troops  and  perhaps  fifteen  reserve  battalions  with 
their  usual  heavy  artillery  support.  When  the 
crossing  of  the  Narew  was  accomplished  it  seemed 
inevitable  that  Warsaw  must  fall  and  immediately 
the  civil  evacuation  of  the  city  began. 

It  seemed  then  that  the  Germans  might  in  a 
few  days  drive  through  to  the  railroad,  and  to 
save  the  army  in  Warsaw  an  immediate  evacuation 
in  hot  haste  would  prove  imperative.  But  the 
Russian  Army  defending  this  sector  rallied  just 
as  their  brothers  did  in  the  South.  The  German 
drive  on  Wyszkow  took  them  within  4  versts 
of  the  town,  while  the  Russian  counter-attack 
threw  them  back  fifteen,  with  heavy  losses 
in  casualties  and  prisoners.  Then  there  began 
here  the  same  sort  of  slow  stubborn  fighting  that 
for  weeks  had  been  progressing  in  the  South  ;  only 
here  the  German  advances  were  slower,  and  the 
attainment  of  their  objective  less  certain.  About 
the  same  time  (July  25-26)  the  Germans  made  a 
try  on  the  Warsaw  line  itself,  but  failed  miserably, 
and  abandoned  any  serious  effort  against  the 
new  Blonie  line  to  which  the  Russians,  in  order 
to  get  the  most  out  of  their  men  and  to  shorten 
their  line,  had  withdrawn.  It  must  never  be 
forgotten  that  the  Russian  Front  was  1,200  miles 
long,  and  the  inability  to  supply  it  with  men  and 
munitions  had  made  it  necessary  to  shorten  their 
—  329  — 


THE   RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

Front  to  get  the  best  results  from  their  numbers. 
It  is  hard  to  say  what  numbers  both  beUigerents 
had,  and  even  if  I  knew  exactly  our  strength  the 
censor  would  not  pass  my  statement.  I  think 
it  safe  to  say  however,  that  during  these  days  the 
Austro-German  forces  outnumbered  the  Russians 
by  at  least  50  per  cent.,  counting  effectives 
only.  This  shortening  left  simply  Warsaw  itself 
with  its  Blonie  line  from  Novo-Georgievsk  to 
Gorakalwara  in  Russian  hands  west  of  the 
Vistula. 

By  the  27th-28th  of  July  there  came  a  wave  of 
hope,  and  those  who  had  lost  all  optimism  picked 
up  their  courage  once  more.  I  know  from  the 
very  best  authority  that  up  to  August  i  it  was 
hoped  that  Warsaw  might  still  be  saved,  though 
every  preparation  was  being  made  for  its  evacua- 
tion. The  cause  of  this  burst  of  optimism  was 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  terrific  German  blows 
both  North  and  South  were  not  gaining  the  head- 
way that  had  been  expected.  Besides,  the  Rus- 
sians were  getting  more  and  more  ammunition, 
and  it  seemed  more  than  possible  that  the  Germans 
might  fail  of  their  objective  if  only  they  did  not 
receive  increasing  reinforcements.  These  two  great 
battles  North  and  South,  each  seeming  equally 
important,  had  drawn  everything  that  could  be 
spared  to  either  one  point  or  the  other.  It  was 
clear  then  that  there  must  be  some  Hnk  in  the 
—  330  — 


APRIL   TO   AUGUST,    1915 

chain  weaker  than  the  others,  and  the  Germans 
set  out  to  find  this. 

Without  weakening  for  a  moment  their  attacks 
on  their  main  objectives,  they  began  (with  new 
reinforcements)  to  spear  about  for  a  point  against 
which  to  launch  still  a  third  attack.  Several 
attempts  disclosed  the  Russians  in  strength,  but 
at  last  the  enemy  discovered  that  the  weakest  spot 
was  on  the  Vistula  south  of  Warsaw.  As  this  was 
the  easiest  to  defend  on  account  of  the  river 
being  approximately  the  line,  the  Russians  had 
fewer  troops  and  thus  the  Germans  were  able 
to  effect  a  crossing  of  the  river.  I  am  not  able 
to  state  absolutely  the  day  or  the  place  of  crossing, 
but  I  am  inclined  to  place  it  about  July  27-28, 
and  I  think  the  first  crossing  was  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Radomika,  while  I  believe  another  was  made 
about  the  same  date  somewhere  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Pilica  river.  The  enemy  gained  an  initial 
advantage  at  first,  but  as  usual  was  driven  back 
by  a  counter-attack,  though  he  still  held  his 
position  on  the  East  bank  of  the  river. 

At  this  time,  as  nearly  as  I  can  estimate,  there 
were  four  Russian  army  corps  defending  the  Blonie 
line  from  Novo-Georgievsk  to  Gorakalwara.  With 
this  strength  the  few  sporadic  attacks  of  the  Ger- 
mans were  futile.  When  the  first  crossing  of  the 
Vistula  developed,  the  corps  which  stood  near 
Gorakalwara    crossed    the    river    and    countered 

—  331  — 


THE   RUSSIAN   CAMPAIGN 

the  northerly  crossing,  while  troops  from  the 
neighbouring  army  to  the  South,  covered  the 
menace  on  that  portion  of  the  line,  and  it  was 
believed  that  the  enemy  had  failed  here  in  his 
objective  which  it  was  thought  was  the  Warsaw- 
Brest  line  at  Nova  Minsk.  It  was  believed  and 
probably  rightly,  that  even  the  three  remaining 
corps  on  the  Blonie  line  could  hold  that  front,  and 
that  the  balance  had  been  re-established,  for  the 
Russians  hoped  that  the  Germans  had  in  their 
fighting  line  all  the  loose  formations  which  were 
immediately  available.  About  July  30-August  i, 
the  Germans  developed  three  new  divisions  (be- 
lieved to  have  come  from  France),  and  these  crossed 
the  river,  giving  them  practically  two  whole  corps 
against  half  the  strength  of  Russians.  It  is 
possible  that  even  these  odds  might  have  been 
overcome  by  the  stubbornness  of  the  Russian 
soldier,  but  the  Russians  learned  that  three  Aus- 
trian divisions,  said  to  have  come  from  the  Serbian 
Front  were  available  in  immediate  support. 

From  this  moment  it  was  evident  that  Warsaw 
was  doomed.  To  weaken  the  Front  on  the  Blonie 
line  meant  a  break  there,  and  re-inforcements 
could  not  be  sent  either  from  the  Narew  line  or 
the  Southern  Front  where  actions  still  raged. 
It  was  then  clearly  a  mate  in  a  few  moves,  if  the 
Russians  waited  for  it.  But  they  did  not.  In- 
stantly began  their  military  evacuation,  the  clever- 
—  332  — 


•01) 

o 

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APRIL    TO   AUGUST,    1915 

ness  of  which  must  I  think  be  credited  to  Alexieff 
and  his  brilHant  Chief  of  Staff  Goulevitch.  Those 
of  us  who  have  been  studying  the  Warsaw  situation 
for  ten  months,  imagined  that  when  the  evacuation 
came,  if  it  ever  did,  it  would  be  through  the  city. 
What  happened  was  entirely  unexpected.  The 
corps  at  Gorakalwara  slipped  over  the  river  on 
pontoon  bridges  in  the  night,  supporting  the  first 
corps  that  was  already  there,  effecting  the  double 
purpose  of  getting  out  of  the  Warsaw  zone,  and 
simultaneously  coming  in  between  the  Germans 
and  the  line  of  retreat  toward  Brest.  About  the 
same  time  the  corps  that  lay  next  to  the  Vistula, 
on  the  Northern  end  of  the  Blonie  line,  slipped 
out  over  pontoon  bridges  and  went  to  support 
the  Narew  defenders,  thus  making  impossible  the 
immediate  breaking  of  that  line.  On  August  4, 
by  noon,  there  was  probably  not  over  one  corps  on 
the  West  side  of  the  Vistula.  Half  of  that  crossed 
south  of  Warsaw  before  six,  and  probably  the  last 
division  left  about  midnight,  and  at  three  a.m. 
the  bridges  were  blown  up.  The  Germans  arrived 
at  six  in  the  morning,  which  seemed  to  indicate 
that  they  were  not  even  in  touch  with  the  Russian 
rearguard  at  the  end. 

What  I  have  written  above  is  to  the  best  of  my 

information  the  outline  of  the  Warsaw  situation, 

but  it  may  be  in  details  somewhat  inaccurate, 

thought  I  think  the  main  points  are  correct.     In 

—  333  -- 


THE  RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN 

any  case  there  is  no  question  that  the  whole  with- 
drawal was  cleverly  accomplished,  and  in  perfect 
order,  and  that  when  the  Germans  finally  closed 
in,  they  found  an  abandoned  city.  Their  reports  of 
having  carried  Warsaw  by  storm  are  undoubtedly 
true  to  the  extent  that  they  were  in  contact  with 
some  of  the  last  troops  to  leave.  Probably  the 
trenches  that  they  carried  by  storm  were  held  by  a 
battalion  or  two  of  soldiers  protecting  the  rear- 
guard. That  the  great  body  had  gone  long  before 
the  Germans  know  perfectly  well,  and  their  claims 
of  having  carried  the  city  by  assault  would,  I 
dare  say,  bring  a  smile  even  to  the  stolid  face  of 
the  German  soldier. 

During  all  these  operations  the  Germans  had  at 
least  five  shells  to  the  Russians,  one,  and  but  for 
this  great  superiority  they  never  would  have 
pushed  back  either  the  line  of  the  Narew  or  the 
Cholm-Lublin  line.  Russia  could  not  convert  her 
resources  into  ammunition,  and  Germany,  who  for 
forty  years  has  lived  for  this  day,  could.  To  this 
factjshe  owes  her  capture  of  Warsaw.  The  Allies- 
may  be  assured  that  Russia  stayed  until  the  last 
minute  and  the  last  shell,  and  then  extricated 
herself  from  an  extremely  dangerous  position, 
leaving  the  enemy  to  pounce  on  the  empty  husk 
of  a  city  from  which  had  been  taken  every  movable 
thing  of  military  value.  The  defence  of  and  final 
escape  from  Warsaw  is  one  of  the  most  spectacular 
—  334  — 


APRIL   TO3 AUGUST,    1915 

and  courageous  bits  of  warfare  that  history  presents, 
and  undoubtedly  the  fair-minded  German  admits 
it  in  his  own  heart  regardless  of  the  published 
statements  of  the  Staff. 


~  335  — 


CONCLUSION 


'**.*       **.   • 


CHAPTER  XXV 

CONCLUSION 

Dated : 
Petrograd, 
September  2,  1915. 

A  GREAT  deal  has  happened  since  the  Fall 
of  Warsaw  which  one  must  regret,  but 
at  the  same  time  the  incidents  or  disasters  must 
be  viewed  in  their  proper  perspective.  The  loss  of 
Kovno,  Novo-Georgievsk  and  many  other  positions 
are  all  unfortunate,  but  must  I  think  be  taken  as 
by-products  of  the  loss  of  Warsaw.  With  these 
enormous  extended  fronts  which  modem  war 
presents  for  the  same  time,  there  always  develop 
certain  points  on  the  line  which  may  be  called 
keystones.  In  the  Galician  campaign,  the  Dunajec 
line  and  Gorlice  was  the  keystone.  Once  this  was 
pulled  out  and  a  number  of  corps  eliminated,  the 
whole  vast  line  from  the  Vistula  to  the  Bukovina 
was  thrown  into  a  state  of  oscillation.  Once  the 
withdrawal  of  one  army  started,  the  whole  line, 
even  to  the  Warsaw  Front,  was  affected.  Armies 
such  as  the  Bukovina  army,  which  was  actually  ad- 
vancing for  ten  days  after  the  first  attack  began 
—  339  —  * 


THE  RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN 

hundreds  of  miles  away,  first  halted  and  finally 
had  to  come  back  to  maintain  the  symmetry  of  the 
whole.  A  great  Front,  changing  over  hundreds 
of  versts,  means  that  the  whole  line  can  stop  only 
when  the  weakest  unit  can  stop.  A  chain  is  no 
stronger  than  its  weakest  link  and  the  same  is 
roughly  true  of  a  Front. 

We  saw  this  clearly  in  Galicia.  It  has  been 
apparent  to  every  one  that  Warsaw  was  the 
keystone  of  the  campaign  in  Poland.  Once  Warsaw 
was  given  up  under  the  conditions  which  then 
existed,  everything  that  has  happened  could  have 
been  foreseen.  It  was  clear  to  all  on  this  Front 
who  had  followed  these  movements  closely,  that 
the  next  line  would  be  far  in  the  rear,  and  that 
when  the  general  change  of  Front  came,  many 
places  would  have  to  be  sacrificed.  Novo-Georgi- 
evsh  as  a  matter  of  course  was  doomed.  Its 
function  was  to  protect  the  flank  of  the  Warsaw 
defences.  It  actually  held  out  for  two  weeks  after 
Warsaw  was  abandoned,  and  this  delay  to  the 
Germans  enabled  the  Russians  to  get  their  army 
clear  of  a  dangerously  active  pursuit.  Fortresses 
in  modern  war  must,  as  many  believe,  be  regarded 
as  checks  to  the  mobihty  of  an  enemy,  rather 
than  as  permanent  blocks  to  his  progress.  Noro- 
Georgievsh  was  this,  and  certainly  justified  the  loss 
of  the  garrison  and  the  cost  of  its  construction. 
Liege  is  a  still  better  example.  Certainly  no 
—  340  — 


•  -.•  •    •  • 


'*».*^   "•«  •.    • 


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APRIL  TO  AUGUST,    1915 

fortress  can  withstand  modern  big  guns,  and  if  by 
their  sacrifice  they  play  their  part  in  the  game, 
they  have  more  than  served  their  ends.  To  hold 
on  to  a  fortress  with  a  large  garrison  only,  magni- 
fies its  importance,  creates  a  bad  moral  effect 
when  it  falls,  and  entails  the  loss  of  a  field  army. 
Perhaps  the  Austrian  conduct  of  Przemysl  will  be- 
come the  historic  warning  in  future  wars  as  what 
not  to  do  with  fortresses.  From  an  extremely 
intimate  contact  of  the  terrain,  I  felt  certain  that 
the  next  jump  from  Warsaw  would  be  Brest- 
Litowsk.  I  had  visited  that  place  five  or  six 
times  and  felt  equally  sure  that  if  the  Germans 
made  a  definite  bid  for  it,  it  would  not  be  defended. 
The  Russians  knew  this,  and  in  the  army  there 
was  no  keen  disappointment  at  its  loss ;  for 
I  think  no  one  who  knew  conditions  expected 
that  there  would  be  a  big  battle  there,  though 
many  believed  that  the  enemy  would  never  try 
seriously  to  go  further.  That  they  have  done  so  is 
looked  upon  by  many  as  a  mistake  of  the  Germans. 
Time  only  can  tell.  The  Russians  are  now  on  the 
move  to  another  line.  The  enemy  may  continue 
to  follow,  but  in  this  district  one  does  not  see  any 
point  the  capture  of  which  can  have  any  great 
benefit  which  they  could  ensure  before  winter  sets 
in.  The  only  result  which  can  seriously  assist  them 
is  the  capture  of  Petrograd,  and  even  this  would 
not,  I  believe,  insure  a  peace  with  Russia. 
—  341  — 


THE  RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN 

As  a  matter  of  fact  it  seems  to  the  writer  pretty 
certain  that  the  enemy  will  not  reach  half  way  to 
Petrograd  before  the  winter  sets  in,  and  after  that 
its  capture  is  increasingly  unlikely.  Once  one 
has  left  the  Front  one  obtains  more  accurate  news 
as  to  the  situation  on  this  line  of  battle  from  the 
foreign  papers  than  from  any  other  source.  In 
Petrograd,  in  civilian  circles,  there  is  great  pessi- 
mism as  to  the  military  situation,  but  this  is  not 
shared  by  those  who  are  in  the  confidence  of  the 
highest  authorities.  The  only  danger  that  seriously 
and  immediately  menaces  the  Russians  is  rapidly 
passing  away.  It  was  dangerous  because  it  was 
insidious.     It  is  certainly  worth  discussion. 

It  was  of  course  to  be  expected  that  the  moment 
the  Russian  Armies  left  Warsaw  and  the  entire 
line  began  to  retire  on  new  positions,  there  should 
be  a  period  of  great  ambiguity.  For  several  weeks 
the  armies  were  in  constant  movement,  and  from 
day  to  day  their  exact  positions  were  uncertain. 
As  they  went  back,  they  obviously  left  many  towns 
and  positions  behind  them,  with  the  result  that 
for  weeks  the  Germans  have  been  having  a  con- 
tinuous celebration  over  their  advances.  During 
this  period  very  little  news  was  available  in 
Petrograd,  which  at  the  best  is  pessimistic  and 
quick  to  jump  at  conclusions  of  disaster.  There  is 
here,  as  all  the  world  knows,  an  enormous  German 
influence,  and  whenever  the  military  situation  is 
—  342  — 


APRIL  TO    AUGUST,    1915 

in  the  least  ambiguous,  there  start  immediately 
in  a  thousand  different  quarters  reports  of  dis- 
aster which  in  an  hour  are  all  over  Petrograd. 
That  these  reports  originate  from  German  sym- 
pathizers is  hardly  questioned,  and  that  the  whole 
propaganda  is  well  organized  is  equally  certain. 

The  past  two  weeks  has  found  Petrograd  in  a 
receptive  mood  for  gloomy  news,  and  inasmuch  as 
nothing  of  a  favourable  nature  has  come  from 
the  Russian  Army,  the  German  propaganda  of 
insidious  and  subtle  rumours  and  reports  has 
run  through  the  city  like  a  prairie  fire  after  a 
drought.  Three  main  themes  have  been  worked 
up  and  circulated  for  all  that  they  would  stand. 
It  was  said  first  that  there  was  lack  of  harmony 
among  the  Allies,  and  that  the  Russian  high 
authorities  were  not  satisfied  with  the  conduct  of 
the  war  in  the  West.  The  corollary  of  this  of 
course  was  that  without  harmony  the  cause  was 
lost.  Next  came  the  assertion  that  the  army  was 
demoralized,  and  had  lost  hope  and  therefore 
wanted  peace.  Then  the  shortage  of  ammunition 
was  magnified  until  half  the  gullible  population 
were  almost  willing  to  believe  that  the  army  were 
fighting  with  pitchforks  and  shotguns.  Out  of  all 
this  came  the  assertion  that  peace  was  inevitable 
and  that  the  Germans  would  take  Petrograd. 
For  a  week  or  more  these  topics  circulated  and 
grew  with  such  alarming  rapidity  that  at  last 
—  343  — 


THE  RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN 

the  Government  was  obliged  to  take  notice  of  the 
propaganda,  which  was  finally  squelched  by  a 
statement  issued  to  The  Times  and  the  Russian 
Press  by  M.  Serge  Sazonov,  the  distinguished  and 
clever  minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

In  this  interview  the  Russian  statesman,  speaking 
for  the  Government,  made  a  categorical  denial  of 
the  slanders  against  the  Government  and  the 
Russian  people.  He  stated  without  reservation 
that  there  was  not  now,  nor  had  there  ever  been,  a 
lack  of  harmony  between  the  military  or  civil 
authorities  of  the  Allies,  and  announced  that  the 
Russian  Government  not  only  approved  of,  but  had 
implicit  faith  in  the  programme  of  the  Allies  in 
the  West.  He  then  discussed  the  munitions 
question,  and  asserted  that  all  steps  were  being 
taken  to  fill  depletions  in  all  branches  of  the  army 
requirements,  and  lastly  he  stated  once  and 
for  ever  that  there  would  be  no  independent 
peace  with  Germany  while  a  single  German  soldier 
remained  on  Russian  soil  and  that  the  war  would 
continue  even  if  the  Government  were  obliged  to 
retire  to  the  heart  of  Russia  and  the  contest 
continued  for  years  to  come.  This  statement  has 
had  an  immediate  effect  on  the  local  panic-mongers 
here,  and  for  the  moment  there  is  a  lull  in  the 
German  propaganda. 

In  the  meantime  it  is  becoming  obvious  that 
the   Germans   in   spite  of   their   following   up  of 

—  344  — 


APRIL  TO  AUGUST,    1915 

the  retiring  Russians  are  not  likely  to  achieve 
any  successes  which  can  immediately  affect  the 
poHtical  situation.  If  they  take  Riga  and  Grodno, 
and  even  Vilna,  they  have  done  their  worst  for 
some  months  to  come,  and  one  cannot  see  what 
they  can  accomplish  further  before  winter  sets  in. 
If  the  campaign  at  this  stage  were  in  June  one 
might  feel  apprehensive  of  Petrograd,  but  under 
the  most  favourable  conditions  it  is  difficult  to 
see  how  the  Germans  can  get  even  halfway  here 
before  November.  By  that  time  they  will  be 
on  the  verge  of  the  winter  with  the  ground  freezing 
so  deeply  that  intrenching  is  difficult,  if  not  im- 
possible, and  every  advance  must  be  made  with 
terrific  losses.  Their  attempts  to  conduct  warfare 
in  Poland  (a  much  milder  climate)  in  winter,  are 
too  recent  a  memory  to  lead  one  to  believe  they 
will  repeat  it  here.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
their  advance  on  the  Bzura-Rawka  line  froze  up 
when  winter  came,  and  the  sacrifice  of  thousands 
did  not  advance  them  materially  at  that  point 
in  spite  of  their  most  determined  efforts.  I  think 
one  may  say,  then,  that  what  the  Germans  cannot 
accomplish  before  November  they  will  not  attempt 
until  Spring.  The  pessimism  and  hopelessness  of 
Petrograd  seem  to  be  on  the  wane,  and  the  reports 
from  the  Front  now  arriving  do  not  indicate  either 
demoralization  or  despair  in  the  army. 

Probably  one  must  expect  retirements  and  rear- 
—  345  — 


THE   RUSSIAN  CAMPAIGN 

guard  actions  for  some  weeks  to  come.  Ultimately 
the  Russians  will  settle  down  on  some  new  line 
from  which  it  is  extremely  unlikely  that  they  can 
be  driven  before  the  winter  sets  in.  One  hesitates 
to  make  any  prophecies,  as  conditions  change  so 
rapidly  that  it  is  always  dangerous  to  do  so,  but 
perhaps  it  is  safe  to  say  that  with  the  coming  of 
the  winter  and  the  definite  lull  in  the  campaign 
which  will  follow,  the  Russians  will  have  passed  their 
crisis.  Given  four  months  of  rest  and  recuperation 
we  shall  have  an  entirely  new  situation  in  the 
beginning  of  next  year  which  will  present  an 
entirely  new  problem.  It  will  really  mean  the 
starting  of  a  new  war  with  new  objectives  and 
practically  with  a  new  and  re-equipped  army. 

There  may  be  those  who  are  disappointed,  but 
history,  I  believe,  will  conclude  that  this  summer 
campaign  of  the  Russians  has  been  the  greatest  fac- 
tor so  far  in  the  war  making  for  the  ultimate  victory 
of  the  Allies.  For  nearly  four  months  Germany 
has  been  drained  of  her  best.  Men  and  resources 
have  been  poured  on  this  Front  since  May  regard- 
less of  cost.  Autumn  approaches  with  the  armies 
in  being,  undemoralized  and  preparing  to  do  it  all 
over  again.  In  the  meantime  the  Allies  are  pre- 
paring to  begin  on  the  West,  or  at  least  it  is  gener- 
ally so  believed.  When  they  do  at  last  start,  Ger- 
many will  for  months  be  occupied  in  protecting  her- 
self, and  will  probably  be  unable  to  act  so  vigorously 
—  346  — 


Wounded  returning  to  Warsaw. 


On  the  banks  of  the  River  Dniester.    Cossack  snipers  in  the  woods 
overlooking  the  river. 


APRIL  TO   AUGUST,    1915 

here.  If  Russia  gets  over  the  period  of  the  next 
sixty  days,  she  will  be  safe  until  Spring,  and 
by  that  time  she  will  without  doubt  be  able  to 
take  up  an  offensive  in  her  turn. 

After  months  of  observation  of  the  Germans  it 
is  folly  to  speculate  on  how  long  they  can  stand 
this  pace.  It  may  be  for  six  months,  and  it  may 
be  for  two  years,  but  with  the  Allies  patiently 
wearing  down  the  enemy  month  after  month 
and  year  after  year  there  can  be  but  one  end. 
That  Russia  has  played  her  part,  and  played  it 
heroically,  I  think  no  one,  even  the  Germans 
themselves,  can  deny.  There  are  some  that  like 
to  believe  that  the  enemy  will  try  to  get  Moscow 
and  Kiev  before  winter  sets  in.  The  former 
objective  seems  impossible,  and  the  latter  even  if 
obtained  would,  I  believe,  in  no  way  compensate 
the  enemy  for  his  sacrifices,  for  the  nature  of 
the  country  is  such  that  all  advances  could  only 
be  at  terrific  cost.  Besides,  Kiev,  even  if  taken, 
would  not,  I  think,  have  any  tangible  effect 
on  forcing  Russia  to  make  peace,  and  this  end 
alone  can  justify  the  Germans  in  making  further 
huge  sacrifices. 

There  are  many  who  maintain  that  Russia 
will  find  it  difficult  to  reconquer  Galicia  and 
Poland.  Probably  she  will  never  have  to  do  so. 
It  is  perfectly  possible  that  when  the  end  comes, 
Germany  will  still  be  on  the  territory  of  France, 
—  347  — 


THE  RUSSIAN    CAMPAIGN 

Belgium,  and  Russia.  Peace  will  bring  back  in- 
stantly all  of  these  provinces  without  any  fighting 
at  all.  It  matters  not,  then,  whether  Germany  is 
broken  while  still  in  the  heart  of  Russia  or  under 
the  walls  of  Berlin  itself.  The  task  is  to  break 
the  enemy  and  that  this  will  be  done  eventually 
I  think  cannot  be  doubted.  It  is  the  stamina, 
the  character  and  the  resources  of  the  Allies  that 
in  the  end  will  decide  this  war,  and  nothing  is 
more  unwise  than  to  judge  the  situation  from 
the  study  of  pins  moved  back  and  forward  on 
the  map  of  Europe. 


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